Last year, the countries of East Asia were hailed for their success stories in the effort to stop the coronavirus pandemic. Today, these same countries are battling a resurgence in infections. One unintended consequence of their early success in suppressing the virus has been a late start in vaccinating their populations.
China alone has successfully contained the spread of the virus, vaccinated its people and taken measures to get its economy back on track.
The Asian giant's government immediately set up special hospital wards for coronavirus patients and called up a large number of regional health care professionals to provide assistance. Domestic vaccines are in full production and more than 25 million doses are administered daily. The speed with which China is vaccinating its citizens is particularly striking when compared to India (5 million doses a day) or Japan (1 million doses a day).