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Coronavirus pandemic
AsiaSoutheast Asia

Southeast Asia’s rich and powerful grab Covid-19 booster shots before many have had first jab

  • The growing trend in countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines is worsening inequities amid vaccine shortages
  • Extra doses for the well-connected means fewer stockpiles for health professionals or the vulnerable, as cases and deaths continue to surge

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For countries in Southeast Asia that are hamstrung by vaccine shortages, extra doses for the well-connected means fewer stockpiles for health professionals or the vulnerable. Photo: Los Angeles Times/TNS
Bloomberg
In some of Asia’s Covid-19 hotspots, powerful and wealthier citizens are nabbing booster shots even as most people remain unvaccinated, undermining the inoculation strategies of nations struggling with the highly infectious Delta variant.
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The growing trend in countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines is worsening inequities at a time when they are grappling with vaccine shortages. 

In Indonesia – where the health ministry has said boosters are only for health workers – members of the political elite, including the governor of a prominent region, were caught on camera discussing the boosters they received. The conversation was inadvertently broadcast in a live stream of an event on the Presidential Secretariat’s official channel.

President Joko Widodo could be heard saying he has not received a booster because he was waiting for Pfizer’s shot to be available. Widodo’s office and the governor did not respond to requests for comment at the time, and the video has since been deleted.

Thailand is investigating a director and a doctor at two hospitals who allegedly gave Pfizer jabs meant for pregnant women and health workers to family members and aides.

Ronaldo Zamora, a representative for San Juan City in the Philippines, has spoken openly at a press conference about getting four Covid-19 shots – a round of Pfizer, adding to the Sinopharm vaccine he received last year before it was even approved by regulators. His son, a mayor of the same city, later said it was done under doctor’s orders because Zamora was immunocompromised.

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The chase for added inoculations comes at a time when there is a growing global debate around booster shots, which have been shown to increase protection against the virus as the Delta variant drives up cases worldwide. The World Health Organization has urged developed nations to hold off on boosters until supplies are available for poorer nations. Meanwhile, at the end of August, US President Joe Biden said his administration was considering giving boosters five months after the second dose. 

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