Japan will provide Taiwan with 1.25 million doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
Taiwan has been struggling to procure its own supplies and has blamed China for impeding shipments of the shots.
China had intervened in its purchase talks with BioNTech SE, Pfizer Inc.’s German coronavirus vaccine development partner when it had been close to securing a vaccine deal with the company.
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi says the shipment will be transported via aircraft on Friday (04) and will arrive in Taipei later in the day.
“At a time of trouble, we need to help each other,” Mr. Motegi said in response to a question raised by an opposition lawmaker in parliament, emphasizing that Taiwan had been the first to send aid after Japan suffered a disastrous earthquake and tsunami in 2011. “We want to make arrangements to supply vaccines from our surplus to countries and regions that don’t have enough now.”
In a videoconference hosted by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said, “We really appreciate that the Japanese government is seriously considering providing Taiwan with vaccines.” But he declined to elaborate further.
Taiwanese newspapers on Friday (04) ran front-page stories of Japan’s plan, saying the move reflects the friendship between the two neighbors.
Japan approved the AstraZeneca vaccine on May 20 following domestic testing and has secured enough doses for 60 million people.
However, vaccination has been put on hold due to concerns of rare cases of blood clots.
The Japanese government has secured sufficient supplies of other jabs enough to cover its own population and hosted a summit on accelerating global vaccination efforts on Wednesday (02).
