In Australia's case it was bad gov't decisions that stalled the vax rollout (put all their eggs into the one AZ basket and then the bad press coverage started about blood clotting so widespread "vax hesitancy" ensued because they didn't have enough Pfizer to fill the gaps). Then you've got places like Vietnam that simply don't have the money to buy more than a relative "handful" of vaccines so rely on donations from the more affluent countries - which, like rich people the world over, covet what they've got for themselves and only give away what they don't want (mostly AZ)! But despite the challenges, the VNs have now vaxxed nearly 75 million (total pop ~96 million, including tens of millions of children and mountain dwellers). Thanks to timely intervention by the Australian Chamber of Commerce, we foreigners finally got our first jabs (AZ) last week, so feeling much happier now - especially as the "AZ stigma" is gradually disappearing as more and more success stories replace the blood clotting nightmares. Whoever said the most powerful entity in the world is the media was dead right - they can make or break anyone and anything at the stroke of a pen (or key)!
