Ian Inkster

Opinion | East Asia is uniquely placed to become a world leader in vaccine aid

Many parts of the world are in a vaccine mess, whereas East Asia is taking it slow with vaccination because of the lower risk of coronavirus infection

East Asia has the purchasing power to supply vaccines to the developing world, and this would translate into huge cultural and political gains for the region

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Containers carrying Sinovac’s Covid-19 vaccine are unloaded from a Cathay Pacific plane at the Hong Kong International Airport on February 19. Photo: Handout

Ian Inkster

Published: 4:30am, 15 Apr 2021Updated: 5:21am, 15 Apr 2021

The news of vaccines spreading across China and elsewhere, especially into poorer nations, is highly reassuring. And for some time now, I have been advocating that East Asia – as a whole – might act as a vanguard of vaccine innovation and delivery at a global level.

The superiority of East Asian nations in handling the Covid-19 invasion not only demonstrated their expertise, but also indicated that as a group they should recover economically soonest, especially in inter-regional trade and in commercial relations with Africa.

They were in prime position (and still are) as a group. Given that East Asia delivers less general development aid to poorer nations than the leading advanced economies in the West, increasing its aid to Africa, South Asia and South America by large amounts, and in the form of a roll-out of vaccine and infrastructure, would have been incredibly radical and globally useful. It would be humane, and a good investment in soft power.

China should already have led this, for to be seen as working with the rest of East Asia for a good cause that no one could have a quibble with would have helped build its soft power tremendously, to the benefit of its economy and all those who trade with and invest in China.

A new innovative aid package from East Asia need not only involve vaccines being developed in China and Japan, for example. It can include all known vaccines of high efficacy being used in, say, the United States, Britain and parts of Europe, which are purchased and packaged for aid.

02:13

Coronavirus: In Pakistan food aid is distributed to the poor in Karachi

In many nations, the vaccine roll-out has been severely hampered – often stupidly – by political games (the Europe-Britain vaccine battle is exemplary in its irrationality). Vaccine efficacy, safety, price, transport and delivery problems are often trotted out as scientific-sounding excuses for halting roll-outs.