On Tuesday, Australia’s Labor Party and the Australian Council for International Development questioned Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government regarding purchasing 50,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines meant for lower and middle-income countries from the COVAX facility.
COVAX is a World Health Organization-run scheme that ensures equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
Marc Purcell, the Chief Executive of the Australian Council for International Development, said, “Australia had shown desperation to get the preferable vaccine, Pfizer, from any sources into Australia. But we can’t forget that our fortunes are tied up with reducing and eradicating Covid in the developing countries that surround Australia.” Purcell added, “The COVAX facility is open to countries in genuine need, but countries like Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia should be a priority for donors like Australia.”
Similarly, the Labor Party’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Penny Wong, said, “If Mr Morrison has had to resort to accessing vaccines intended for developing countries, he should be upfront about that. Of course, if Mr Morrison had done his job last year and secured sufficient supplies, we wouldn’t be in this position.”
The New York Times has reported that “Pfizer wanted new doses to go to developing countries, but COVAX insisted on fulfilling orders to developed countries such as Australia that had bought them at higher prices.”
Australia’s vaccine purchase from the COVAX facility was first announced by Health Minister Greg Hunt on June 6. The government has paid $123.2 million to purchase over 25,000,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the Australian population. In addition, Australia announced an investment of $130m to the COVAX facility to support vaccines for low-income countries.
However, Australia’s Health Department rejected the claims that the country purchased vaccines meant for low-income countries. A Health Department spokesperson said the claims “completely misrepresent the way COVAX works.” He noted that Australia purchased doses from the “stream reserved for 91 upper and middle-income self-financing member economies.” The spokesperson added, “The additional doses Australia secured through Covax were never intended for low-income countries and were never part of that section of COVAX. To suggest otherwise is offensive.”
Earlier, Australia advocated its participation in the scheme allowing several developing countries to receive vaccines and developed countries to buy vaccines to replenish domestic supplies. Australia has been seeking extra doses of Pfizer as it is the preferred vaccine for the age group of 59 and above. On Sunday, the Australian government revealed that it had bought one million doses of Pfizer vaccines from Poland.
Australia received no doses of Pfizer vaccines in the first round of COVAX distribution and no doses of AstraZeneca in the second round from February to May. However, it got the Pfizer vaccine in the third round of vaccine distribution. Apart from Australia, vaccines doses were also allocated to Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.
Australia Purchases COVAX Pfizer Supplies Meant For Poor Nations
Australia’s Labour party and Council for International Development accused the government of purchasing COVID-19 vaccines meant for lower-income countries from the COVAX facility.
August 17, 2021
SOURCE: REUTERS