Australia urged to spend more on Covax program amid criticisms of ‘vaccine diplomacy’
Distribution of nearly 18m Covid vaccine doses to Pacific and south-east Asia has come at expense of global effort
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Australia has distributed 18m doses of Covid-19 vaccine to neighbouring countries but is being urged to dedicate money and resources to Covax – the global vaccination mechanism – so that the world’s least-inoculated countries can access vaccines.
Australia’s “vaccine diplomacy”, focusing on bilateral donations to the Pacific and south-east Asia has come at the expense of commitments to the global Covax facility, to which it has committed zero doses and only $130m.
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