The UK will send 4m Covid-19 vaccine doses to Australia in a swap deal aimed at accelerating Canberra’s stuttering rollout and bolstering British supplies later in the year when ministers are pushing for a booster campaign.
The first batch of 292,000 BioNTech/Pfizer doses will arrive in Australia in the coming days, with the remainder due by the end of the month, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday.
Australia will return an equivalent 4m doses before the end of the year, according to the UK health department.
The deal is designed to speed up Australia’s vaccination rollout, which has been one of the slowest in the world, and Morrison said it would allow the government to bring forward its prospective reopening date.
It reflects the UK’s calculation that it does not currently need all its stockpiled doses, which expire in a matter of months if not used, while allowing London to boost supplies later this year in anticipation of a broad booster campaign and the vaccination of 12 to 15-year-olds.
“There are 4m reasons to be hopeful today,” said Morrison. “From Downing Street to Down Under, we are doubling down on what the Pfizer doses are here in Australia this month.”
About 37 per cent of Australian adults have received two doses of a vaccine, the country’s health department said. In the UK, 79 per cent of over-16s are fully-vaccinated, according to official figures.
Sajid Javid, the UK health secretary, said: “Our agreement with Australia will share doses at the optimum time to bolster both our countries’ vaccination programmes.”
On Wednesday, the UK took the first tentative step towards a booster campaign by green-lighting third doses for around 500,000 people with severely weakened immune systems. The NHS is planning for a booster drive encompassing all over-50s.
Pressure is also growing on the UK government’s vaccine advisory group, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, to sign off on vaccination for younger teenagers amid concerns that the September school reopening will prompt a fresh wave of infections.
Morrison defended Australia’s national reopening plan, which is to go ahead with removing restrictions when the country reaches 70 and 80 per cent vaccination rates, despite pushback from state premiers who are reluctant to ease restrictions. Australia reported more than 1,600 new coronavirus infections on Friday.
Rasmus Bech Hansen, chief executive of life sciences analytics company Airfinity, told the FT the deal was part of a growing trend of “bilateral diplomacy-driven dealmaking” over vaccines.
He added that it underlined the contrasting vaccine rollouts in the two countries.
“In the UK, supply is outpacing demand, while in Australia, it’s the other way around,” he said. “These doses are likely expiring and there is confidence in Pfizer supply coming down the line, so there is really no reason to sit on large piles of vaccines.”
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiP2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZ0LmNvbS9jb250ZW50L2NlNDFmY2ExLTNlMGEtNGM3NS1iNjRkLTBlZWMwZGE0YzA0YdIBP2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmZ0LmNvbS9jb250ZW50L2NlNDFmY2ExLTNlMGEtNGM3NS1iNjRkLTBlZWMwZGE0YzA0YQ?oc=5
2021-09-03 10:35:41Z
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