Since the emergence of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) led to the closure of borders, lockdowns and economic and public health crises across the Asia-Pacific region, the pandemic has taken many twists and turns. As a result, the region’s prospects of achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 are much diminished. The odds of meeting many of them were already low before the pandemic, in the face of intensifying climate and financial shocks.

The pandemic further widened existing inequalities and vulnerabilities. Evidence also shows the reversal of hard-won gains in poverty reduction in several countries in the region. All this is happening alongside intensifying environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, and the continued onslaught of natural hazards and climate change. Consequently, the risks to developing countries, and poor and vulnerable populations, have not abated, but are on the rise.

In 2021, our partnership report highlighted the risk of widening social and economic divergence in Asia and the Pacific—and the threat of a so-called “K-shaped recovery”. This report takes a closer look at the implications of the pandemic for attaining the SDGs, and countries’ responses to pandemic-induced shocks and rising social and economic stresses. It considers the key factors that are influencing the dynamics of recovery in parts of the region, and what we can learn faster and apply further, from what works.

Critical to countries’ ability to cope have been vaccination coverage, access to diagnostics, and COVID-19 therapeutics. Generally, richer countries have made faster progress in inoculating their populations. Yet some poorer countries in the region, such as Cambodia, Bhutan and small island developing states, have also managed to achieve high vaccination coverage. Despite these successes, greater vaccine equity remains vital to getting the region’s economies and societies back on track as fast as possible. On this score, every day matters.