Australia’s purchase of 500,000 Pfizer doses from the global vaccine-sharing Covax initiative has renewed debate about whether more Covid-19 vaccines should be reserved for developing countries. Australia has paid $123m to buy the option to purchase 25m doses from Covax and contributed a further $1300m to support vaccine access for low-income countries. The Australian government does not publish real-time information about the source of vaccine doses, leading to confusion in July about the source of extra Pfizer doses to be sent to New South Wales. The health department has rejected claims Australia’s purchase had taken doses from lower income countries. “The additional doses Australia secured through Covax were never intended for low income countries and were never part of that section of Covax.

Source: The Guardian August 17, 2021 02:54 UTC