TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Japan announced Friday (Oct. 15) that it will donate more doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to Taiwan as part of its free vaccine-sharing initiative for Southeast Asian countries in need.

At a press briefing on Friday morning, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Motegi Toshimitsu stated that Japan has given out 25 million doses to other countries and is planning to hand out an additional 4.9 million jabs to Southeast Asian countries, including 2 million doses each to Indonesia and the Philippines, 500,000 doses to Vietnam, and 400,000 doses to Thailand, reported CNA.

The foreign minister added that another batch of AZ vaccine would be shipped to Taiwan.

As of today, Japan has donated a total of 3.9 million coronavirus jabs to Taiwan through five separate shipments since June.

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) expressed gratitude to Japan for its latest offer, saying the move could help improve the country's vaccination coverage and would further strengthen ties in various fields. Taiwan reached a first-dose vaccination coverage of 60% Friday.