OpinionWhat’s behind Southeast Asia’s hesitancy towards China-made vaccines?

Beijing has supplied 190 million doses of its home-grown inoculations to the region, but public perceptions towards Sinovac and Sinopharm are negative

In the likes of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, factors including efficacy and religious concerns as well as anti-China sentiment are behind this selective hesitancy

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A nurse fills a syringe with a dose of the Sinovac vaccine in Hong Kong. Photo: Getty

Published: 11:00am, 10 Sep 2021Updated: 11:04am, 10 Sep 2021

While China has so far supplied 190 million doses of its home-grown Covid-19 inoculations to Southeast Asia, making it a primary region for Beijing’s vaccine diplomacy, public perception towards the likes of Sinovac and Sinopharm are largely negative.

An examination of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam reveals some common factors driving this selective hesitancy, despite the two Chinese-made vaccines being by far the most readily available in the region.

Several polls undertaken since late 2020 – by different organisations including YouGov, Kompas, Indikator, Suan Dusit, and using different sampling methods – paint a mixed picture of public perceptions towards Chinese vaccines in these countries.

General Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy

While massive Covid-19 outbreaks in each of the six countries above have driven up vaccine willingness, a number of surveys in the region indicate that general vaccine hesitancy is largely attributed to concerns about effectiveness, safety, and fears about side effects.

Some of the hesitancy towards Covid-19 vaccines can be attributed to low health literacy about the virus in certain segments of the population, partly due to government failures in communicating relevant information about the virus and their response. This situation is most extensively reported in Indonesia.