In some of Asia’s COVID-19 hot spots, wealthier and more powerful citizens are securing booster shots even as most people remain unvaccinated, undermining the inoculation strategies of nations struggling with the highly infectious delta variant.
The growing trend in countries like Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines is worsening inequities at a time when those same countries are grappling with vaccine shortages.
In Indonesia — where the health ministry has said boosters are only for health workers — members of the political elite, including the governor of a prominent region, were caught on camera discussing the boosters they received.