Published January 15, 2021, 8:25 AM
The nations quickest to enact social distancing and contact-tracing systems have mostly kept COVID-19 in check, but their citizens now find themselves lagging in receiving the shots needed to finally end a pandemic that has devastated millions of lives.
Governments from Japan and Australia to Hong Kong and South Korea are taking their time before granting regulatory approvals for vaccines, in stark contrast to the Western nations that have rushed to inoculate populations.
Passengers walk through the Hong Kong subway station in Nov. 2020.
(Chan Long Hei/Bloomberg / MANILA BULLETIN)
That cautious approach may seem strange given the urgency to resume normal life, but low infection rates mean that Asian governments are able to wait to see how the unprecedented vaccination drives play out elsewhere. Still, the strategy runs the risk of leaving them economically disadvantaged against places that botched containment but rushed out vaccination.