Node.js API needs two clicks to load

I am trying to use a joke API and Rest country API. I made 2 async functions, but when I use the country API I need to click the submit button twice before the country flag and coat of arms images loads. The joke api retrieves the data right away.

app.post("/", urlEncodedParser, (req, res) => {
    sendJokeRequest();
    let countryName = req.body.country;
    console.log(countryName);
    sendCountryRequest(countryName);
    res.render("api-page", {
        data: req.body.country,
        joke: joke,
        countryFlag: countryFlag,
        countryCoatOfArms: countryCoatOfArms
    });         
});
var joke;
var countryFlag, countryCoatOfArms

const sendJokeRequest = async () => {
    try {
        const response = await axios.get("https://api.chucknorris.io/jokes/random");
        console.log(response.data.value)
        joke = response.data.value;
    
    } catch (err) {
        console.error(err);
    }
};
const sendCountryRequest = async (country) => {
    try {
        const response = await axios.get(`https://restcountries.com/v3.1/name/${country}?fullText=true`);
        console.log(response.data[0]);
        countryFlag = response.data[0].flags.svg;
        countryCoatOfArms = response.data[0].coatOfArms.svg;
    
    } catch(err) {
        console.error(err);
    }
}

>Solution :

since sendJokeRequest and sendCountryRequest are async you are executing res.render(... before they have retrieved any data at all – and using "globals" for joke, countryFlag and countryCoatOfArms is a very poor design – they should be returned from sendJokeRequest and sendCountryRequest

This should work

app.post("/", urlEncodedParser, async (req, res) => {
    try {
        const joke = await sendJokeRequest();
        const countryName = req.body.country;
        console.log(countryName);
        const {countryFlag, countryCoatOfArms} = await sendCountryRequest(countryName);
        res.render("api-page", {
            data: req.body.country,
            joke,
            countryFlag,
            countryCoatOfArms
        });
    } catch(err) {
        // handle errors here in one place
    }
});

const sendJokeRequest = async() => {
    const response = await axios.get("https://api.chucknorris.io/jokes/random");
    console.log(response.data.value)
    return response.data.value;
};

const sendCountryRequest = async(country) => {
    const response = await axios.get(`https://restcountries.com/v3.1/name/${country}?fullText=true`);
    console.log(response.data[0]);
    countryFlag = response.data[0].flags.svg;
    countryCoatOfArms = response.data[0].coatOfArms.svg;
    return {countryFlag, countryCoatOfArms};
}