Japan will donate an additional 1.3 million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses to Vietnam, Thailand, Brunei and Taiwan (China).

Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters in Tokyo on September 14 that based on requests from the relevant countries and territory, Japan has decided to provide 500,000 doses for Taiwan, 400,000 doses for Vietnam, 300,000 doses for Thailand, and 100,000 doses for Brunei, stressing that the batch will be delivered as soon as possible.

The latest batch has brought Japan’s total donation to 3.9 million doses for Taiwan, and to 3.18 million for Vietnam.

To date, Japan has given out more than 23 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine produced in Japan to countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Pacific islands, he said.

Additionally, Japan has pledged 1 billion USD and 30 million doses to the COVAX programme, overseen by the GAVI alliance and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

As of September 12, nearly 80 million people in Japan had been vaccinated, with about 64.5 million receiving two shots./.