Thailand, too, is grappling with similar vaccine shortages that have considerably slowed down its inoculation programme. Other low- and middle-income regions like the Philippines and Taiwan, too, have been hit by shortages of the AstraZeneca vaccine, a large portion of which are manufactured at the Serum Institute of India factory in India.

Owing to India’s own vaccine demands and a brutal Covid-19 wave, exports had been halted, impacting vaccine rollouts and the subsequent effects of the dangerous delta variant across the world. But AstraZeneca’s local manufacturing partners in countries like Thailand have also cited supply constraints.

Thailand's Covid-19 surge could derail its plan to revive its tourism economy.
Thailand’s Covid-19 surge could derail its plan to revive its tourism economy.
Image: Our World in Data

For Thailand, particularly, this could be bad news because this unchecked Covid-19 spread could derail its plan to reopen the country to vaccinated tourists in resort bubbles.

African countries and vaccine inequality

A slow vaccine rollout, partly owing to the global shortage even within vaccine-sharing initiatives like Covax and prevailing inequity, has been catastrophic for countries like South Africa. The country, much like its neighbours in Africa, has been reporting record-level surges in new Covid-19 infections. It has already surpassed its previous peak of nearly 22,000 cases in January with 26,000 on July 3.

South Africa is seeing another big surge in Covid-19 cases.
South Africa is seeing another big surge in Covid-19 cases.
Image: Our World in Data

Despite housing just 4% of Africa’s population, South Africa now accounts for 35% of the continent’s cases. “Africa has just marked the continent’s most dire pandemic week ever. But the worst is yet to come as the fast-moving third wave continues to gain speed and new ground,” Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization’s regional director for Africa, told AP news.

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