Four million doses of the Pfizer jab would be sent from Britain to Australia as part of the COVID-19 vaccine deal.
Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison announced the move in a press conference from Canberra; just days after his country secured 500,000 about-to-expire Pfizer doses from Singapore.
“The plane is on the tarmac now. It will be leaving tomorrow,’’ Morrison said.
“Those doses will be coming over the course of the next few weeks, which will see us double the Pfizer doses that we have during September.
“This means from Downing Street to Down Under, we are doubling down on what the Pfizer doses are here in Australia this month.’’
Australia has one of the slowest vaccine rollouts among wealthy countries, with just 36.4 per cent of people over the age of 16 fully vaccinated, according to the Australian Immunisation Register.
The country’s two most populous states, Victoria and New South Wales, were in lockdown and counting on getting their residents vaccinated to contain the outbreak of the Delta variant which began in Sydney in mid-June.
The deal comes hours after Boris Johnson said the UK needs to “go faster’’ with the vaccination of 16 to 17-year olds, in spite of a strong uptake within the age group.
