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 | | Daily reported coronavirus cases in the United States, seven-day average.The New York Times |
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Vaccinations in Asia surpass those in the U.S. |
In the early months of the pandemic, the Asia-Pacific region was praised for its virus response. Countries had kept the coronavirus under control by masking, testing and keeping borders shut. |
The Delta variant changed that. As the U.S. and E.U. ramped up their vaccination campaigns, Asia struggled with infections and a lack of vaccines. |
Now, many countries there are on track to surpass the U.S. in fully vaccinating their populations. |
Some have already done so. South Korea, Japan and Malaysia have administered more doses per 100 people than the U.S., a pace that seemed unthinkable in the spring. |
Vaccines have helped keep most South Koreans out of the hospital. Among fully vaccinated people who contracted Covid there, about 0.6 percent had severe illness and about 0.1 percent died, according to the country's Disease Control and Prevention Agency. |
In Japan, serious cases have fallen by half over the last month, to a little over 1,000 a day. Hospitalizations plummeted from a high of just over 230,000 in late August to around 31,000 on Tuesday. |
The turnabout, my colleagues Sui-Lee Wee, Damien Cave and Ben Dooley write, is as much a testament to the region's success in securing supplies as it is to some Americans' vaccine hesitancy and political opposition. |
Vaccines are not polarizing in the Asia-Pacific region. Movements against them have been relatively small, without the sympathetic news media, advocacy groups and politicians that can exacerbate misinformation. |
Overall, most Asians have put community needs over their individual freedoms. They've also trusted their governments, although many of those governments have also used incentives, such as lifting restrictions for the fully vaccinated. |
In poorer nations, like Indonesia and the Philippines, many people felt they had no choice but to be vaccinated. Fear of unrest in countries that lack social safety nets, in turn, has motivated leaders to offer vaccines quickly. |
But it's not all good news. In Southeast Asia, the campaigns have been slow and uneven, dragging down economic prospects. And risks remain. Most of the countries do not manufacture their own vaccines, one reason for their slow starts, and they could face supply problems if their governments approve boosters. |
Vaccinations lag in Africa |
The W.H.O. set the benchmark this year as part of a push for countries to vaccinate at least 40 percent of their populations by the end of the year. So far, just 4 percent of Africa's population is fully vaccinated, and the more advanced economies on the continent have outpaced their poorer neighbors. |
"The main issue is that wealthy countries just haven't donated to Covax, the vaccine-sharing initiative, in the way that they said they would," my colleague Lynsey Chutel, who covers Southern Africa, said. "Mainly because they wanted to prioritize their own populations." |
The virus situation on the continent is often overlooked because the reported infection rate is currently low. So far, there have been about 6 million cases across the continent, according to the W.H.O. But that's part of the problem, Lynsey said. A large population without immunity — either through vaccination or infection — offers more opportunities for the virus to mutate if there's a large outbreak. |
"And these new variants can be highly infectious, as we've seen with the Delta variant," Lynsey said. If one emerges, she added, "then we're kind of starting from scratch." |
What else we're following |
I'm a fully vaccinated sixth-grade teacher. After 10 days in the classroom, I am now home sick with Covid-19, and have passed it along to my vaccinated spouse and our two children who are not yet vaccine-eligible. I must have become sick from one of my students, as I'm too busy to be anywhere other than work and home. I feel so guilty for infecting my family, so guilty for having to be gone from my classes for so many days, and so so guilty for possibly and unintentionally putting other people's children at risk. I'm exhausted from taking care of my sick family while being sick myself — and having to write sub plans each night so my students continue to learn in my absence. They've already missed so much. I could really use some time to take care of me. — Darcy, Oregon |
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