Japan sends over 1M vaccine doses to Taiwan

A flight carrying 1.24 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from Japan touched down in Taiwan's Taoyuan International Airport on Friday to help the island fight its largest outbreak since the pandemic began.

The donation underscores how geopolitics have come to impact the global vaccination rollout, as countries scramble to secure enough vaccines for their populations.

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen and Health Minister Chen Shih-Chung each expressed their gratitude to Japan on Friday.

Taiwan, a self-governing island, has struggled to get its own vaccines, blaming China for interfering in a deal.

Now the island is more than doubling its vaccine supply thanks to Tokyo, as Japan tries to play a greater role in global vaccination distribution while pushing to accelerate its painfully slow vaccine rollouts at home ahead of the Olympics in July.