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Australia began its Covid-19 inoculation program today days after its neighbor New Zealand, and both governments decided that their pandemic experiences did not require rapid follow-up of vaccine launches that occurred in many parts of the world.
New South Wales Police Officer Lachlan Pritchard receives the Pfizer vaccine at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Vaccination Center in Sydney, Australia. Source: Associated Press
Other countries in the Asia-Pacific region that have coped relatively well with the pandemic have recently started vaccinating or are about to do so, including Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Singapore.
Catherine Bennett, an epidemiologist at Australia’s Deakin University, said countries not facing a virus crisis benefit from taking their time and learning from countries that have taken emergency vaccination measures like the United States.
“We now have data on pregnant women who are vaccinated. Natural accidents occur in a real-world implementation, “Bennett said.” All of those things are really valuable information. “
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison received his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday in a show of confidence in the product. Australia is prioritizing building public confidence in Covid-19 vaccines ahead of speed of delivery.
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Scott Morrison was one of the survivors of World War II, elderly care residents and frontline workers who received the vaccine. Source: 1 NEWS
Health and border control workers, and nursing home residents and workers began receiving the Pfizer vaccine on Monday at centers across the country. Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt will receive the AstraZeneca vaccine when it becomes available in a few weeks.
The vast majority of infections in Australia are infected travelers abroad who are detected during the mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine. Australia has recorded 909 deaths from coronavirus.
New Zealand began inoculations last week after receiving its first batch of the Pfizer vaccine.
The nation of 5 million has managed to eradicate the spread of the virus and the first people to receive the vaccines are border workers and their families. That is a different priority group than most countries and the idea is to stop the spread of the virus from any traveler who is infected. After that, health and essential workers will be vaccinated along with vulnerable older people.
However, the launch of a program to vaccinate the general population in New Zealand will not begin until the second half of the year, behind many other countries.
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Jacinda Ardern promises to be vaccinated publicly. Source: 1 NEWS
In Australia, some ethics and infectious disease experts at the Australian National University have accused the government of stockpiling vaccines and argued that the government should send surplus supplies to countries in desperate need.
Elsewhere in Asia, Thailand, which has seen just 83 deaths from viruses, has yet to start vaccinating. You will receive the first 200,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine on Thursday. This will be part of the Thai government’s plan which has so far secured 2 million doses of Sinovac and 61 million doses of AstraZeneca.
The government has a policy to provide free vaccines for all Thais and aims to inject half the population this year. The government said they expect to start vaccination a few days after the first batch of vaccines arrives.
Vietnam, which has recorded 35 deaths, announced last week that it will receive 5 million doses of vaccines by the end of February and expects to begin inoculations in early March. Five million people, mostly frontline workers, will get the first chance.
Cambodia, which has yet to report deaths from the virus, received its first shipment of 600,000 doses of vaccines from China on February 7, part of the 1 million doses that Beijing donated. On February 10, they began the vaccination program, starting with the children of Prime Minister UN Sen, government ministers and officials at a state hospital.
In Singapore, which has reported 29 deaths from the virus, some 250,000 residents, including healthcare workers and other front-line workers, had been vaccinated as of last week, according to health officials. The goal is to get another million people to receive their first dose of the vaccine by early April.
Laos, which has also not reported deaths, received 300,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine on February 8. A health ministry official said he expects 20% of the Lao population, or 1.6 million people, to be vaccinated in the year.
