Pandemic Response Report Card: Japan
It has been …
… since Former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said "Developing medicines and vaccines, ensuring equitable access and providing assistance to vulnerable developing countries are the priority."
Deliver doses
Low and lower-middle income countries still need nearly 4.2 billion doses to fully vaccinate 70% of the population by mid-2022. To help close the gap, members of the G20 have promised to share over 2.5 billion doses by mid-2022. To date, 553 million have been delivered.
Japan has not published a dose delivery plan.
Fund the Global Response
We need at least $43 billion to vaccinate 70% of the population in every income category by September 2022. To date, $0 billion has been committed. Country shares will be available soon and governments should act fast to fill this funding gap.
Share SDRs for Economic Recovery
The pandemic’s aftershocks continue to devastate the economies of many countries. High-income countries must support more vulnerable nations with all tools available, including Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), an international reserve asset that can help support countries in emergencies. Rechannelling an initial $100 billion of SDRs in 2021 to low income and vulnerable middle income countries is a smart investment in a fairer, greener, and better recovery for everyone. To date, $45 billion has been committed from all advanced economies.
Dismantle Barriers to Vaccine Supply
Only a handful of countries have the capacity to manufacture vaccines. We need urgent action to share mRNA technology and intellectual property rights, and to adapt existing facilities and acquire the materials needed to scale up vaccine production globally.
What’s next?
Japan has committed to share a total of 60 million doses, though no timeline has been provided. To date, Japan has delivered 27 million doses. And Japan has committed only half of the $2.4 billion it was asked to pledge to the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A).To tackle the pandemic’s global economic impact, Japan’s stated approach is financial assistance to vulnerable countries and support for longer term initiatives; but this does not seem to have materialised in substantial additional funding so far. While many other G7 countries have pledged significant new support to the global economic response, Japan has only committed 10% of its Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) allocation. And Japan’s foreign aid increased only marginally in 2020, by just 0.01% of GNI.
Japan will host the pledging conference for the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) before the end of 2021. African leaders have called for an ambitious $100 billion replenishment — and Japan must ensure this target is met. Japan also must recycle at least 20% of its SDR allocation.
