Singapore will soon send half a million Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses to Australia as part of a "vaccine swap" between the two countries, delivering a boost to the nation's vaccination program.
Key points:
- The doses will arrive this week and be distributed next week
- Australia will send half a million doses back to Singapore in December
- The extra Pfizer will be distributed evenly around the country
Under the agreement, Australia will receive 500,000 Pfizer doses that are due to expire.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the doses would arrive this week, to be rolled out across Australia from next week, and would be shared equally with all states and territories on the basis of population.
"We need to vaccinate the whole country and we need for those doses to go from one end of the country to the other and for them to be taken up," he said.
The federal government will then deliver half a million Pfizer vaccines back to Singapore in December, when Australia is expected to have ample supplies.
"This will greatly assist the national vaccination program as it brings in two important age groups into the program — the 16- to 29-year-olds, which have already begun this week — and, of course, the 12- to 15-year-olds," Mr Morrison said.
"I said I'd leave no stone unturned on this and this is further demonstration that that has been the focus of the government."
Singapore has already fully vaccinated well over 80 per cent of its population against COVID-19 — making it one of the most inoculated countries in the world — and has begun the process of easing restrictions.
Mr Morrison has hailed the vaccine swap as an example of international cooperation, saying Australia and Singapore were working together to make sure vaccines were used before they expire.
The extra doses were expected to further speed up the vaccine rollout, already set to be boosted in September by the arrival of Pfizer doses from elsewhere, as well as the first shipment of the Moderna mRNA vaccine.
The government is expecting 1 million doses of the vaccine to arrive next month.
Earlier this month the government secured 1 million Pfizer doses from Poland, which were directed to Sydney to help vaccinate younger age groups in hotspot areas.
Mr Morrison thanked Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for facilitating the swap.
More to come.
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2021-08-31 02:57:04Z
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