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Illustration – corona virus vaccine
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GridHot.ID – Australia is said to be spending half a billion dollars on the purchase vaccine Covid-19.
However, not for his own country, but rather to help its regional neighbors bounce back from the pandemic, including Timor Leste.
Launch Daily Mail on Saturday (31/10/2020), Prime Minister Morrison said, providing assistance to Pacific and Southeast Asian countries will help economic recovery and health security Australia.
Meanwhile the government is preparing to spend $ 500 million for vaccine regional neighbors, but have not yet spent money on vaccine Australia.
PM Scott Morrison signed a deal with British drug company AstraZeneca, which is developing their vaccine at the University
Oxford, in August, but no money was exchanged.
The federal government instead signed a so-called ‘Letter of Intent’ with AstraZeneca in which the company agreed to deliver the vaccine to Australia as soon as it was approved.
“The Indo-Pacific region is a new global economic machine,” Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in a statement Saturday.
“Ensuring it can recover quickly will stimulate economic activity and restore jobs at home and abroad,” he said.
Purchases will be made from multiple manufacturers through the global COVAX Facility package, which aims to ensure the viral vaccine is shared with all countries.
Australia will provide a wide range of support with vaccine doses, including assessment of vaccine safety and effectiveness, advice to individual country regulatory authorities, technical support and providing important World Health Organization information.
The plan will be rolled out over three years to help countries, such as Timor-Leste in northern Australia, achieve full virus immunization coverage.
“The rapid and safe rollout of vaccines in the Pacific and Southeast Asia will mean we can return to normal travel, tourism and trade with our key partners in the region,” said Payne.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian agency United Nations Children’s Fund welcomed the news.
“Until the pandemic is over for everyone, it is for no one else and support for Southeast Asia and the Pacific to introduce this successful vaccine is a strong contribution to ensuring the health of all Australians and our neighbors, ” said UNICEF Australia researcher Alice Hall.
The Save the Children Fund says the pledge is a good start but more needs to be done.
“Vaccines are still far away and the pandemic is expected to push another half million people in the Pacific into poverty,” said deputy chief executive Mat Tinkler.
The Pacific economies, many of which rely heavily on tourism, have been devastated.
Tinkler called on the federal government to also increase support for poor people in the Pacific.
“We urge Australia to work with the Pacific to create a social protection system that reaches the poorest children and families,” he said.
“Strong social intervention will save lives now and is in Australia’s strategic interest,” he said.
The Australian Government has also signed further purchase agreements with Astra Zeneca-Oxford and CSL-University of Queensland for more than 84 million vaccine units.
This article has been published on Intisari Online with the title “Not yet spending a dime on vaccines for its citizens, Australia has even disbursed Rp7.3 trillion for vaccines in other countries such as Timor Leste”
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