Japan to donate AstraZeneca vaccine doses to Sri Lanka through COVAX

Japan will make additional donations of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to Sri Lanka and other Asian neighbours, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Tuesday.

Japan will ship out 1 million doses each to Indonesia, Taiwan and Vietnam on Thursday as part of bilateral deals with those governments, Motegi told reporters.

An additional 11 million doses donated through the COVAX sharing scheme will be sent this month to Bangladesh, Cambodia, Iran, Laos, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, as well as various Pacific Island states, he said.

According to the Japanese Embassy in Colombo, 1.45 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines manufactured in Japan are expected to be delivered to the island nation in the coming weeks.

“This decision has been taken in response to the request by the Government of Sri Lanka and as a part of Japan’s support for ensuring equitable access to safe and effective vaccines for as many people as possible in the fight against COVID-19,” the embassy said in a statement.

The embassy further stated that Japan has also been providing cold chain equipment through UNICEF, as a part of the ‘Last Mile Support’ to establish proper system of vaccination as well as to ensure equitable access to the vaccines for all citizens. “This includes cold storage boxes and vaccine carriers to store vaccines at the appropriate temperature and transport the vaccines to local vaccination centres.”

Japan has provided USD 16.2 million to Sri Lanka to assist its efforts to combat COVID-19 and has also pledged USD 1 billion to the COVAX facility to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines in developing countries, the statement read further. “Japan will continue to stand in solidarity with Sri Lanka in this joint combat against COVID-19.”

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry expressed thanks for the gesture, particularly at a serious stage in Japan’s own coronavirus battle. Japan has donated about 3.4 million doses to Taiwan in a show of support for the Chinese-claimed island.

“The friendship between Taiwan and Japan is unwavering,” the Taiwan ministry said in a statement. “The Foreign Ministry once again thanks our partners in freedom and democracy for their warm assistance and strong support.”

In a statement, Vietnam said it would receive a million doses from Japan on Friday in the southern business hub of Ho Chi Minh City, where it is fighting its largest outbreak yet after months of successful containment.

“It is encouraging that a number of richer countries have made generous pledges and donations of vaccines to countries in Asia in recent weeks,” said Alexander Matheou of aid group the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

“We need to speed up the delivery of these lifesaving doses so that we can get them into people’s arms, giving us a genuine shot at containing this pandemic once and for all.”

Taiwan has complained that Chinese interference blocked its deal this year to secure vaccines from Germany’s BioNTech SE, charges Beijing has denied. Since then, vaccine donations have rolled in to Taiwan.

Taiwan’s relatively small domestic COVID-19 outbreak has generally been brought under control, except for a few sporadic community infections.

Japan has pledged $1 billion and 30 million doses to COVAX. Motegi said on Tuesday the AstraZeneca doses made in Japan were approved by the World Health Organization on July 9 for use in COVAX.

-with inputs from Reuters