Southeast Asia needs more vaccines against COVID-19 to contain fatalities: IFRC
Southeast Asian countries need more help in securing COVID-19 vaccines, as the region is struggling to contain record infections and deaths driven by the Delta variant, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has said.
People in Jakarta, Indonesia, get vaccinated against COVID-19 (Photo: Xinhua/VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - Southeast Asian countries need more help in securingCOVID-19 vaccines, as the region is struggling to contain record infections anddeaths driven by the Delta variant, the International Federation of Red Crossand Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has said.
Southeast Asia escaped the worst situation when the pandemic broke outlast year, but in recent weeks has seen the highest deaths globally, as soaringinfections push regional healthcare systems to the brink and expose sluggishvaccination rollouts.
Alexander Matheou, Asia Pacific Director of the IFRC, saidthat this COVID-19 surge driven by the Delta variant is claiming a tragic tollon families across Southeast Asia and it's far from over.
Most Southeast Asian countries have been posting record COVID-19 infections or fatalities.
According to a Reuters COVID-19 tracker, while countrieslike Canada, Spain and Britain have fully vaccinated more than 60 percent oftheir people, and the US more than 50 percent, Indonesia andPhilippines - the most populous countries in Southeast Asia - have only fullyvaccinated around 10-11 percent of their people.
Matheou said that in the short-term, richer countriesshould urgently share their millions of excess vaccine doses with countries inSoutheast Asia, and vaccine companies and governments also need to sharetechnologies and boost production.
The coming weeks are critical for scaling up treatment,testing and vaccinations, in every corner of all regional countries, hesaid, adding that there must be a target for vaccination rates of 70-80 percent./.
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People in Jakarta, Indonesia, get vaccinated against COVID-19 (Photo: Xinhua/VNA) 
