A boy receives a third dose of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine at a Krang Thnung health center outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Nov. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan plans to deliver 3.7 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to nine developing countries, including for the first time nations in Africa and Latin America, as part of an international effort to ensure fair access to inoculations, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said Friday.

       Tokyo will give COVID-19 vaccines made by AstraZeneca Plc. in Japan to Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Tonga, Vanuatu, Nicaragua, Egypt, Syria and Yemen under the U.N.-backed COVAX Facility program providing shots to poor countries, Hayashi told a press conference.

       Japan has already donated about 30 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to other countries. The government is also preparing for additional direct provision of vaccines to Vietnam, Hayashi said without elaborating.

       Japan "will continue to provide vaccines, taking account of situations such as domestic production, vaccine availability...and vaccine demand in each country and area," the minister said.

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