Vaccinations in Asia and the Persecuted Church
While Asian countries scramble to get their hands on vaccines to bring an end to the devastating COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, the persecuted Church in those countries brace themselves. Will we get the vaccines or will we be ignored? It is the latest way in which COVID has impacted the persecution dynamic.
“The vaccine is expected to be a game changer for churches,” says Ina, an Indonesian church worker. Her country has recorded over 860,000 covid-19 infections. “Many churches in my country may not survive the pandemic. Having fellowship in a physical way is very important for believers’ faith journey, especially those who do not have online access, like people in remote areas, villages or those who cannot afford the Internet during this pandemic. This is a big group of Christians. They are being cut off from encouragement and support during this difficult season. Once the restrictions are lifted in our country, we can reach out to them again.”
Indonesia has adopted a unique approach. The first to receive the Chinese vaccine CoronaVac is the working population: citizens between 18 and 59 years old.
Vaccines for everyone?
The coronavirus crisis amplified certain persecution dynamics in 2020. In Central Asia, Christians who come from a Muslim background didn’t receive vital help from their family members. Authorities in countries such as India ignored Christians in their relief efforts. In many countries Church life moved to the internet and the Christians were monitored more severely or even targeted because of what they said online.
In some countries where Open Doors work through partners, the Christians are skeptical about the vaccines available in their country.
They have reasons not to trust their governments, says one pastor from Kazakhstan: “We can’t be sure that the vaccine that our government purchased for the citizens and the one was created in the country are really effective, and nobody knows about long-lasting effects. What if it will bring more harm than protection from the virus? There were not enough tests and time to prove that it is really useful and not dangerous. So, we would like to avoid the vaccination.”
Christians in Bangladesh have a different concern. “We think the believers will join spontaneously the vaccination campaign. But we wonder about the selection and distribution system,” shares Omar, a local Open Doors field partner. “Since Bangladesh has a huge population but less manpower, it’s still not clear how the vaccination program will be done. We assume there might be discrimination in the selection for the vaccination. Especially if the selection process is entrusted to the local leaders, then the believers might be ignored intentionally, but we hope it won’t happen.”
The pressure of the pandemic in 2021
Open Doors leaders in Asia ask for prayer for the believers and the vaccination campaigns. The pressure on the persecuted Church during this pandemic remains enormous – Open Doors teams and partners are still providing food and other relief aid to the most vulnerable persecuted Christians. At the same, the hope is to transition from relief aid to more sustainable income generating projects, although that’s very hard under the current circumstances. We have also developed new ways, both offline and online, to distribute Bibles and materials, to do presence ministry, to give Biblical training, to provide local advocacy for believers in trouble and help with vocational training.
“The vaccination campaigns provide hope for improvement of the lives of persecuted Christians, assuming the vaccines produced in Asia are reliable and rolled out well,” says Jan Vermeer, Communication Director for Open Doors Asia. “At the same time, many Christian communities still find themselves in a live or die situation this year. We feel the urgency to come alongside them. Our teams and partners take risks to help them, but we have to strengthen them. Our goal is that no persecuted Christian feels alone and that we enable them to be salt and light in their own communities. We call upon the help of our brothers and sisters around the globe to make this vital ministry possible.”
Country-Specific Updates
Bangladesh is expecting the first five million doses of Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine to arrive in the country in early February. The vaccination program is scheduled to start in February. The government has placed an order of 30 million from the Serum Institute of India, and another 68 million vaccine doses from COVEX, a global vaccine alliance.
Received 150,00 vaccines from India
Brunei has already signed with COVEX through the WHO, for the delivery of the vaccine to 50 percent of the population. They are expecting to have the vaccine in Q1 2021.
China is rolling out two of its own home-grown vaccines developed by Sinovac and Sinopharm. As of January, over 10 million people have received vaccination. Nationwide inoculation started from Dec 15 2020. Aged people and essential service personnel including security guards, courier people, container port workers and etc. have priority. Most of military and medical personnel have already gotten their shots some months ago.
They started to vaccinate in India in January. India has also sent doses of locally produced vaccines to Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives in an act of “Vaccine Maitri” or vaccine friendship.
The country has received three million doses of the Chinese vaccine and has begun to vaccinate the working population aged 18-59.
Starting the vaccination program on the 1 February. The government purchased the Russian vaccine Sputnik V and also they have the new vaccine which was invented in Kazakhstan.
Purchased the vaccine from three countries – Russia, Turkey and Kazakhstan, 100 from each of these three countries for tests. After the tests the vaccination program will start
On 31 December it was reported that Laos received 2,000 vaccines from China. 10 per cent of those have already been administered to volunteers. In addition, a coalition called COVAX has declared that Laos will be one of its recipients of vaccines targeting 15 to 20 percent of its population by April 2021 or approximately 1.4 million citizens.
A pharmaceutical group named Pharmaniaga Bhd has confirmed its capacity to manufacture about 2 mil. doses of the covid-19 vaccine per month, starting from the beginning of March 2021. This vaccine is developed by Sinovac Life Sciences Co Ltd.
The Maldives have just started their vaccine awareness campaigns. Maldives has a good relationship with India and the two countries will be working together to plan out their vaccination campaigns.
Plans to vaccinate 40% of their population by 2021. Received 1.5 million doses from India.
Granted 1 million doses of the vaccine by India
North Korea has requested COVID-19 vaccines, despite having no registered cases.
The National government has already begun procurement from many different suppliers of the vaccine. The vaccination program will start as soon as the orders arrive. They are projecting this will take place within the month of February or early March. All the different laboratories where the vaccine will be procured will be given to a certain number of the population all throughout the country. There will be cooperation with the LGU (Local Government Unit) as no vaccine may be brought into the country without the executive branch approval.
Sri Lanka has registered with the COVAX facility to receive the covid-19 vaccine. They have not yet decided which vaccine to get, but authorities say they are most likely to get the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine being made in India. The vaccines might be available in the country by the Sinhala Tamil New Year in April. The government has expressed that the vaccine will be distributed to the Sri Lankan population free of charge. But in the first phase, the vaccine will only be administered to groups they have identified as being at high risk. In the second phase the vaccine will be administered to the public.
Refused to purchase the vaccine and start the vaccination program. Tajik government says that the vaccination program will start in the spring 2021 if the tests are successful.
Officially there are no cases of COVID-19 in the country. At the same time the government will purchase the vaccine from different countries; also the production of medical masks, gloves, and antiseptics is increasing.
Vietnam is hoping to develop their own vaccine with a target for rollout in the second half of this year.
