Asia Pacific must fix its broken vaccine system

Prevailing zero-sum mentality and parochialism need to be overcome

Malcolm Turnbull and Syaru Shirley Lin

October 25, 2021 05:00 JST

Indonesian President Joko Widodo talks with locals during a visit to inspect a door-to-door mass vaccination program against COVID-19 in North Kalimantan province on October 19. Many Asia Pacific countries including Indonesia have struggled to reach minimal vaccination targets. © Reuters

Malcolm Turnbull was prime minister of Australia from 2015-2018 and is a co-chair of the Reform for Resilience Commission. Syaru Shirley Lin is the Compton Visiting Professor at the Miller Center of the University of Virginia and Chair of the Asia-Pacific Hub of the Reform for Resilience Commission.

We all now know that the world is not safe until all are safe, but how can we accelerate the fight against COVID-19 when the virus continues to mutate and spread?