Coronavirus vaccine: anti-vax movement threatens Asian recovery

Asia has high vaccination rates, but it isn’t immune from scepticism that takes its cue from the West and is growing alongside affluence, experts say

Religious concerns are also a hindrance in some Muslim countries, while social media spreads misinformation in less developed lands, experts say

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A Thai technician at Bangkok’s Chula Vaccine Research Centre, which is trying to develop a coronavirus vaccine. Photo: EPA

Published: 9:00am, 1 Jun 2020Updated: 8:51pm, 25 Nov 2020

Before authorities across Asia are able to immunise their populations against the novel coronavirus, they will have to find an effective vaccine, manufacture it on a massive scale and distribute it to billions of people. They may also have to overcome anti-vaccine sentiment – a growing concern in a region known for its high vaccination rates.

More than 85 per cent of people across Asia believe vaccines to be safe, according to a 2018 survey by Wellcome Global Monitor, higher than any other region. Vaccination rates for the region are high overall, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) data, with coverage for diseases such as tuberculosis, whooping cough and tetanus surpassing 90 per cent.

But controversies involving specific vaccines in Asian countries in recent years have nonetheless called attention to the negative impact unfounded or exaggerated safety and other concerns could have on the uptake of a vaccine for Covid-19, which has resulted in more than 350,000 confirmed deaths worldwide.

An experimental vaccine for the coronavirus is tested at the Quality Control Laboratory at the Sinovac Biotech facilities in Beijing. Photo: AFP

“What scenarios we might worry about is where we get a safe, effective vaccine but there’s some kind of theory that circulates that the vaccine is causing syndrome ‘X,’ whatever that is,” Julie Leask, a professor specialising in vaccination at University of Sydney’s school of nursing, said.

“Vaccine safety scares don’t often catch fire – a lot of people try and light those fires, but mostly they don’t catch fire. But when they do, you can have years of hesitancy around that particular vaccine.”