In 2020, Vietnam showed developing Asia how to keep the worst of the pandemic at bay and the domestic economy humming through a combination of tight border closures and rigorous enforcement of social distancing.

Now, Vietnam has joined many other Asia-Pacific countries in becoming a victim of its own success. With infection rates low, there was little urgency to buy a place at the front of the queue for vaccines from abroad, and policymakers over-committed to domestic production.