TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Southeast Asia needs vaccine access to curb record deaths: Red Cross
The region escaped the worst when the pandemic erupted last year, but in recent weeks has seen the highest deaths globally, as soaring infections push fragile healthcare systems to the brink and expose sluggish vaccination rollouts.
Change Size
Health workers administer COVID-19 vaccines to residents during a mobile vaccination drive at Cipedak subdistrict office in South Jakarta on July 13, 2021. The Jakarta administration dispatch vaccination vans to speed up the COVID-19 vaccination in the capital city. (Antara/Indrianto Eko Suwarso)
S
outheast Asian countries need more help securing COVID-19 vaccines, as the region struggles to contain record infections and deaths driven by the Delta variant, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.
The region escaped the worst when the pandemic erupted last year, but in recent weeks has seen the highest deaths globally, as soaring infections push fragile healthcare systems to the brink and expose sluggish vaccination rollouts.
"This COVID-19 surge driven by the Delta variant is claiming a tragic toll on families across Southeast Asia and it's far from over," Alexander Matheou, Asia Pacific Director, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said in a statement.
It noted that most Southeast Asian countries including Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia have been posting record COVID-19 infections or fatalities.
Read also: Thailand seeks 12 million Sinovac shots for mix-and-match vaccine strategy
Yet while countries like Canada, Spain and Britain have fully vaccinated more than 60 percent of their people, and the United States more than 50 percent, Southeast Asian countries are well behind, according to a Reuters COVID-19 tracker.
By contrast, Indonesia and Philippines, the most populous countries in Southeast Asia, have only fully vaccinated around 10-11 percent of their people, while Vietnam sits at below 2 percent.
"In the short-term, we need much greater efforts by richer countries to urgently share their millions of excess vaccine doses with countries in Southeast Asia, said Matheou, adding that vaccine companies and governments also needed to share technology and boost production. "These coming weeks are critical for scaling up treatment, testing and vaccinations, in every corner of all countries in Southeast Asia," he said, adding that there must be a target for vaccination rates of 70-80 percent.
