Japan is considering an additional contribution of up to 700 million dollars (76.1 billion yen) to COVAX, an international framework aimed at the fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccine, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
The government will announce the plan at an online vaccine summit co-hosted with the global organization Gavi in June, in a bid to counter China's aggressive vaccine diplomacy.
COVAX seeks to deliver 1.8 billion doses of vaccine to developing countries by the end of the year. However, it is currently short 1.7 billion dollars out of the 8.3 billion dollars it needs to do so.
According to Japan's Foreign Ministry, China has supplied domestically produced vaccine to more than 80 developing countries. On May 7, the World Health Organization approved a vaccine made by Sinopharm Group Co., a move that is expected to further spur China's supply of vaccine to other nations.
Japan does not currently have domestically produced vaccine, and therefore has to make a primarily financial contribution to the international community through COVAX.
Japan has pledged 200 million dollars (21.7 billion yen) to COVAX so far. By country or organization, Japan currently ranks sixth behind the United States' 2.5 billion dollars, Germany's 971 million dollar and Britain's 735 million dollars. A Japanese government official said, "We must show our presence by increasing our contributions."
It was announced Tuesday that Japan would hold a vaccine summit on June 2, attended by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.
Motegi told reporters Tuesday: "Japan, which is co-hosting [the summit], shouldn't just watch from the sidelines. We'll consider making the contribution as much as possible."
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