Australia commits 20 million coronavirus vaccine doses to struggling countries
Australia will commit at least 20 million coronavirus vaccine doses to struggling countries around the world.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the pledge in Cornwall, UK on Friday night ahead of the G7 meeting where world leaders are set to agree to supplying at least 1 billion shots for developing nations.
“I am pleased to be able to join my counterparts in the G7 and beyond to commit more vaccines for people in developing countries in our region,” Mr Morrison said.
“COVID does not respect borders and the pandemic is not a problem confined to any one nation. That’s why we will commit to distributing at least an additional 20 million vaccine doses across our region.
“The more people we can safely vaccinate around the world, the more we stop the spread and devastation of this disease.”
The 20 million doses will be a mix of AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna and will be provided by mid-2022.
The Australian Government has entered into five separate agreements to secure more than 195 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
Of the more than 1 billion being pledged by the group of world leaders, half of the doses are coming from the US and 100 million from the UK.
The vaccine sharing commitments from US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson set the stage for the G7 leaders’ meeting in southwest England, where leaders will pivot on Friday from opening greetings and a “family photo” directly into a session on “Building Back Better From COVID-19”.
“We’re going to help lead the world out of this pandemic working alongside our global partners,” Mr Biden said, adding that the G7 nations would join the US in outlining their vaccine donation commitments at the three-day summit.
The G7 also includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.
