Scott Morrison unveils ‘dose swap’ deal with UK to provide 4 million additional vaccines from Pfizer | Australian politics

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Australia’s vaccine program got a boost, with the number of Pfizer vaccines doubling into the country, after striking a “dose swap” deal with the UK.

Scott Morrison says the deal will “break the back” of supply issues in September, as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to send 4 million doses of Pfizer to Australia, which will be distributed to states and territories on a per capita basis.

Doses will leave the UK on Saturday to boost the September vaccination programme, when children aged 12 to 15 are included in the offer. Australia will bring back the doses from its own supply at a later time.

“I said I’d leave no stone unturned without you flipping it, and I can tell you I’ve been flipping some stones lately,” Morrison said.

“To make sure that we can move forward with the vaccination program as quickly as possible. It will now depend on a very strong performance.”

News of the latest deal, which came on the heels of a 500,000-dose swap deal with Singapore, comes ahead of a divided national cabinet meeting, as rising cases in the states of New South Wales and Victoria put pressure on the national plan’s timetable.

New South Wales had its worst daily figure in 10 weeks, reporting 1,431 locally acquired cases and 12 deaths, including a woman in her 30s who died at her home. Authorities believe daily cases have not yet peaked, and have warned the community to prepare for larger numbers in the next two weeks.

Victoria recorded the highest number of daily cases since the second wave, with 208 new confirmed cases and one death. Daniel Andrews said the state is focused on suppressing case numbers as much as possible while increasing vaccinations, but she acknowledged that Covid zero is no longer feasible.

The explosion of daily cases in Australia’s two largest states has alarmed leaders of non-locked states, raising questions about whether they will open their borders when Australia reaches its goal of vaccinating 80% of the adult population.

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One of the more concerned, Anastasia Palaszuk, toned down her rhetoric ahead of Friday’s national cabinet meeting, insisted she was committed to the details of the agreed-upon plan, but she wanted to see more discussion.

“I want to see more detailed modeling,” she said.

“It is fair and reasonable to have a constructive debate in this country. Instead of choosing fights and attacks, let us have a decent cultured conversation.”

She denied she was “causing panic” about the issue of child vaccination, despite not having approved a vaccine used in Australia for children under the age of 12, and said further talks about measures to be included in the plan were important.

“There is a very legitimate conversation, where I ask questions, about what is happening to a group of young children, who are not vaccinated.

“It is not about being against a national plan. We are all with a national plan.”

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Before the meeting, Morrison said that while the numbers and modeling will change, the core of the national plan has not.

“What doesn’t change is what we have to do,” he said. We have to maintain record vaccination rates and continue to prepare for Phase B and Phase C pressures on hospitals and public systems.

“We have to run home and large-scale quarantine to get phase B and C, people can travel again, move around the country, can connect to Australia again and with the world, people can attend weddings, people can have home gatherings and Birthday parties and unfortunately funerals, but people will be able to attend. Worshipers can go back to church, and picnics can happen in greater numbers if we can do all of these things.

“The question is what the numbers are, they change every day, but what does not change is what we have to do. That is exactly what we will need to focus on.”

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