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CANBERRA: Australia said on Wednesday it will ask the European Union to release 1 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine to help Papua New Guinea (PNG) fight a dangerous outbreak that authorities fear will spread to other parts of the region.
The request could stoke tensions between Canberra and Brussels amid claims of vaccine nationalism after the EU recently blocked a shipment of doses bound for Australia.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Wednesday that the vaccines were contracted to Australia and were now badly needed to contain an increase in coronavirus cases in the Pacific island nation, some of which are a short boat ride from Australian soil. .
“We have hired them. We have paid for them and we want those vaccines to get here so that we can help our closest neighbor, PNG, address their urgent needs in our region, “Morrison told reporters in Canberra.
“They are our family, they are our friends. They are our neighbors. They are our partners … This is in the best interests of Australia and our region. “
Australia will donate 8,000 locally produced Covid-19 vaccines to PNG as an immediate response to the outbreak, and will make one million doses available as soon as they arrive from Europe, it said.
Earlier this month, the EU, at the request of Italy, blocked a shipment of 250,000 doses of the AstraZeneca PLC vaccine to Australia, citing vaccine shortages in Europe.
It later denied Australia’s request to review the blockade, the first such denial since Brussels established a mechanism to monitor vaccine flows in late January.
PNG has officially recorded more than 2,300 cases since the pandemic began, a number that experts say vastly underestimates the true outbreak.
Prime Minister James Marape earlier this week said Covid-19 had been “unleashed” and warned that local hospitals would soon be overwhelmed.
Marape has urged people to avoid unnecessary travel, but his warning came as thousands of people gathered to mourn the death of Michael Somare, PNG’s first prime minister after Australia’s independence.
Australian Medical Director Paul Kelly said the limited coronavirus tests being conducted in PNG were showing alarming results.
“When people are admitted to the Port Moresby hospital, half of the women who are admitted due to pregnancy are positive,” Kelly told reporters in Canberra.
Morrison warned that an “uncontrolled” outbreak could produce a new variant of the virus that would affect not only PNG, but the wider region.
Canberra will suspend all travel to and from PNG starting at midnight Wednesday, it added.
Australia said in a statement Wednesday that it has reached out to the United States, Japan and India, members of the so-called Quad group of Asia Pacific nations, to seek additional help for PNG.
Fight the opportunity
A senior Australian government source said that while the EU had justified blocking shipping to Australia due to Canberra’s success in containing the virus, that justification would not hold up with PNG.
Aid agencies echoed the desperate need for vaccines in the impoverished country of nearly nine million people.
“PNG needs a fighting opportunity to overcome this, and frontline doctors and nurses could make the difference between keeping this under control or total catastrophe for PNG’s healthcare system,” said Marc Purcell, Executive Director of the Australian Council for International Development, which represents aid. agencies.
The government source said that Canberra would submit its application to the EU this week and would likely have a response in a few days. He declined to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media. – Reuters
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