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John Power

Sonia Sarkar

Sen Nguyen

Vijitra Duangdee

INDIA
Indian authorities have ordered at least 1.6 billion doses of coronavirus vaccines, the most of any country, according to the Launch and Scale Speedometer managed by Duke University’s Global Health Innovation Centre.
The order includes a billion doses from Maryland-headquartered Novavax, 500 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and 100 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik-V.
The Indian government has yet to set out a timeline for immunisations, although the health minister said inoculations could be available in January if safety protocols were met and emergency use authorisation was granted. Government officials had previously said it could take more than a year to vaccinate most of India’s 1.3 billion population.
How will India vaccinate 1.3 billion? Its army of nurses and midwives
The Serum Institute of India, which is manufacturing the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in the country, is seeking emergency use approval by next week, anticipating a full roll-out by February or March.
Along with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and Sputnik-V, home-grown Covaxin is expected to be among the first vaccines used in the country. The vaccine, developed by Bharat Biotech International Limited and the government-run Indian Council of Medical Research, is currently in phase-three trials and could be ready for use by February.

JAPAN
Authorities have signed deals for 120 million doses from the Pfizer-BioNTech consortium, 120 million from Oxford-AstraZeneca, 50 million from Moderna and 250 million from Novavax.
Pfizer has requested that Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare approve its vaccine, becoming the first drug maker to file such a request, Kyodo News reported.
Talks are also under way with US multinational Johnson & Johnson to acquire supplies of its potential vaccine.
Japanese pharmaceutical maker Shionogi & Co hopes to begin phase-one trials for a locally developed vaccine before the end of the year, with plans to produce enough doses for 30 million people by the end of 2021.
Officials have indicated that mass immunisations are likely to get under way in late February.
Majority in Japan want Tokyo 2020 cancelled or postponed: poll
SOUTH KOREA
The government has deals for 20 million doses each of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines, as well as four million doses of the Johnson & Johnson candidate.
Moderna this week agreed to provide enough vaccines for 20 million people in South Korea, with the country aiming to sign a contract by the end of this year and hoping to start imports in the second quarter.
Health authorities are set to receive another 10 million doses through the WHO-backed Covax Facility.
The country’s health ministry has accelerated its programme and now indicates that immunisations could begin in February, while the period required to approve vaccines and treatments will be reduced to as little as 40 days, it said on Sunday.


﻿AUSTRALIA
Authorities have secured about 140 million doses, including 53.8 million from Oxford-AstraZeneca, 51 million from Novavax, and 10 million from Pfizer-BioNTech. Another 25.5 doses will be supplied by Covax. The government plans to begin vaccinations in March.
PHILIPPINES
The government plans to have at least 50 million doses of vaccine covering one-quarter of the population by next year.
It has pre-ordered 2.6 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, and is in talks to secure more from various sources including Pfizer-BioNTech. On Monday, the country’s health minister said the Serum Institute of India had assured him that it would have 30 million doses of the Novavax vaccine ready by July and that a formal deal could be signed by the end of the year.
Officials are also in the final stages of negotiations to secure 25 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine.
The country’s vaccine tsar, Carlito Galvez Jnr, last month pegged late 2021 or early next year as a “realistic” starting point for immunisations, with the inoculation of 60 million to 70 million Filipinos necessary for herd immunity expected to take three to five years.
India, Indonesia set sights on starting Covid-19 vaccinations next month
INDONESIA
The government has secured 338 million vaccine doses for Southeast Asia’s most populous country, according to the Global Health Innovation Centre, with most of the doses originating from China.
The total includes 125.5 million doses from Sinovac, 60 million from Chinese-state owned Sinopharm, and 20 million from Tianjin-headquartered CanSino Biologics.
The country will also receive 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and 30 million from Novavax.
Last month, President Joko Widodo told Reuters he expected vaccinations to begin before the end of the year, pending authorisations by food and drug agency BPOM. But BPOM head Penny K. Lukito later ruled out emergency authorisation in December, telling lawmakers that more data was needed from trials.
VIETNAM
In August, the Vietnamese government said it had registered to buy between 50 million and 150 million vaccine doses from Russia, while it has also registered to procure vaccines developed by Britain.
Four domestic firms are developing vaccines, including Nanogen Biopharmaceutical Biotechnology, which on December 17 began a phase-one trial of 60 volunteers for its vaccine candidate, Nanocovax, according to the country’s health ministry.
The ministry has said phase three of the trials, the last stage in clinical vaccine development, might see as many as 10,000 candidates injected with the virus before they are tested for efficacy and safety next August.
Nanogen expects to produce 50 million to 70 million doses a year.

THAILAND
The government has secured 26 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which is not expected to arrive in the country until May or June.
The country’s health ministry has set a target of acquiring 66 million doses by next year – enough to inoculate about half the population – with the remainder to be sourced from Covax and manufacturers in the United States, China, Britain and Russia.
Officials have pegged May for the start of immunisations in the country.
Thai researchers are also working on a number of locally developed vaccines, including a team at Chulalongkorn University that hopes to begin human trials in April.
SINGAPORE
The government says it has set aside more than S$1 billion (US$750 million) to secure vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Sinovac, without disclosing volumes or further financial details.
The first shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which authorities on December 14 authorised for use in a first for the region, arrived on Monday.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said he expects there to be “enough vaccines for everyone” by the third quarter of next year, assuming preparations go according to plan.
The city state is set to begin its Covid-19 vaccination exercise on December 30, with health care workers the first to receive doses.


MYANMAR
Health Minister Myint Htwe said on December 14 that vaccines provided by Covax for about 20 per cent of the population would be rolled out beginning in April, The Irrawaddy news site reported. It has yet to be decided which vaccines will be provided through the programme.
Officials have also said they intend to purchase vaccines directly from manufacturers so long as they have been approved by the World Health Organization or regulatory bodies in at least three countries. Myanmar is requesting nearly US$1 billion from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund and Japan International Cooperation Agency to fund the purchase of vaccines.
MALAYSIA
The government has signed an agreement for 12.8 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, as well as a pact for a similar amount of doses from Oxford-AstraZeneca – enough to cover about 40 per cent of the population.
The first batch of vaccines is expected to arrive in January.
Officials have pledged to ultimately secure enough vaccines to immunise 70 per cent of the population. Malaysia is expecting to inoculate 10 per cent of its population through the Covax Facility.
Women, children bear brunt of Malaysia’s coronavirus lockdown
CAMBODIA
Prime Minister Hun Sen on December 15 said his government had an agreement in place to purchase 1 million coronavirus vaccine doses through Covax, although he could not say when they would arrive.
The purchase was on top of the developing country’s Covax allocation of inoculations to cover 20 per cent of the population at no or reduced cost.
Hun Sen said the government would allocate US$100 million to US$200 million to purchase enough vaccines to ultimately cover 80 per cent of the population, or about 13 million Cambodians, but would only use vaccines approved by the WHO.
LAOS
The Department of Communicable Disease Control said on December 17 that the country would have a vaccine “within the year 2021”, Laotian Times reported.


Director General Rattanaxay Phetsouvanh said authorities would use the vaccine created in Britain, the newspaper reported, without elaborating.
The government previously announced it was considering a trial for Russia’s Sputnik-V to possibly manufacture and roll out across the country.
BRUNEI
Health Minister Mohd Isham Jaafar said last month that his government was in negotiations with the WHO and individual manufacturers to secure vaccines for 70 per cent of the population.
Earlier this month, the minister said he expected the first batch of vaccines for inoculating 5 per cent of citizens to arrive in the “first or second quarter of next year”.


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Coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus vaccine race: how many doses have Asia-Pacific countries ordered?

AstraZeneca president James Teague at a signing ceremony to seal a deal with Thailand to purchase the company’s Covid-19 vaccine. Photo: EPA-EFE

This picture taken and released by the Vietnam News Agency on December 17, 2020 shows Vietnamese military medical officials (L) giving a shot of the Covid-19 vaccine Nanocovax, developed by Vietnamese pharmaceutical firm Nanogen, to a volunteer (R) during the start of human trials at the Military Medical University in Hanoi. (Photo by - / Vietnam News Agency / AFP)

epa08868301 A doctor collects a blood sample from volunteers before they receive a shot of India's first Covid-19 vaccine, locally developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), during the Phase 3 trial at the People's Medical College in Bhopal, India, 07 December 2020. According to media reports, phase 3 trial of Covaxin will involve 26,000 volunteers who will receive the doses across 25 centers all over India and will be monitored accordingly. The trial has already begun in 10 different Indian cities. EPA-EFE/SANJEEV GUPTA

Coronavirus vaccine: Asia-Pacific countries tread cautiously in roll-out

The challenges facing countries include procuring trusted vaccines for desperate populations, and also implementing efficient immunisation programmes. Illustration: Brian Wang

The Pharmaceutical coolroom at the SATS Ltd. Coolport handling center at Changi Airport in Singapore, on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. SATS is preparing for the arrival of its first shipment of vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE later this month. To do so it has doubled production of dry ice needed to keep the Pfizer vaccine at the required storage temperature of minus 70 degrees Celsius and purchased two cool dollies to move the vaccines around on the ground. Photographer: Lauryn Ishak/Bloomberg

People wait in line to register at a Covid-19 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test site set up at Connaught place in New Delhi, India, on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. India continues to suffer from the world's second-worst coronavirus outbreak with the number of confirmed cases standing at 9.93 million as the morning of Dec. 17, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News. Photographer T. Narayan/Bloomberg

Indonesian men walk past a banner put up by Indonesian Army calling for people to always have their mask on to prevent the spread of coronavirus outbreak in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Coronavirus: India vaccine giant eyes licence within weeks for Covishield, despite efficacy questions

A test tube labelled ‘vaccine’ is seen in front of the AstraZeneca logo. Photo: Reuters

epa08848842 A handout photo made available by the Indian Press Information Bureau shows Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the Serum Institute of India to review the progress and distribution process of Covid-19 vaccine developed by Serum Institute, in Pune, Maharashtra, India, 28 November 2020. EPA-EFE/PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU /HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

A health worker injects a volunteer with the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University in this undated handout picture. Photo: DPA

India, Indonesia set sights on coronavirus vaccinations starting next month

Serum Institute has so far made 40 million doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine in the past two months. Photo: Reuters

39-year-old son Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of Serum. Photo: Adar Poonawalla Twitter

Tokyo 2020: majority of Japanese public want Olympics cancelled or postponed

Pedestrians wearing protective masks walk past Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games posters in Tokyo. Photo: EPA

Malaysian women, children bear brunt of coronavirus lockdown

Women wait at a bus station in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: Reuters

A woman wearing a face mask walks in front of Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. For most people the new COVID-19 coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, but for some it can cause more severe illness. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Malaysian women wearing face mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus wait for the start of National Day rehearsals in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Friday, Aug. 28, 2020. Federation of Malaya gained its independence from Britain on Aug. 31 in 1957. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

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India is the runaway leader in number of doses secured, at 1.6 billion, while Vietnam has yet to announce any official deals
Among the countries planning to produce home-grown vaccines are Japan, Vietnam and Thailand



India is the runaway leader in number of doses secured, at 1.6 billion, while Vietnam has yet to announce any official deals.


Coronavirus vaccine race: how many doses have Asia-Pacific countries ordered?

India is the runaway leader in number of doses secured, at 1.6 billion, while Vietnam has yet to announce any official deals Among the countries planning to produce home-grown vaccines are Japan, Vietnam and Thailand

India is the runaway leader in number of doses secured, at 1.6 billion, while Vietnam has yet to announce any official deals

Among the countries planning to produce home-grown vaccines are Japan, Vietnam and Thailand