Britain sends Australia 4 million Pfizer doses in swap deal

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Britain is rushing 4 million Pfizer doses to Australia, where authorities are scrambling to bolster supplies of that COVID-19 vaccine and protect the population against a rapidly spreading outbreak of the delta variant.

The swap deal announced Friday follows Australian deals with Singapore and Poland to address a short-term Pfizer shortage.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the British shots would leave Britain on Saturday and double Australia’s Pfizer supplies in September.

Australia was keen to make more vaccine deals with other governments, Morrison said.

“I said I would leave no stone unturned and I can tell you I’ve been turning over some stones in recent times to ensure that we can progress the vaccination program as quickly as we possibly can,” Morrison said.

“Thanks Boris, I owe you a beer,” he added, referring to his British counterpart Boris Johnson.

Australia has particularly low vaccination levels compared to other wealthy nations, with only 36% of Australians aged 16 and older fully vaccinated.

The Australian government has been criticized for failing to strike more vaccine deals with manufacturers. Australia had planned to manufacture most of the vaccine for its 26 million people, including 20 million adults.

But one home-grown vaccine was abandoned during development because it produced false positive results to HIV tests. Locally-produced AstraZeneca, which is the only alternative to Pfizer registered for use in Australia so far, proved unpopular with many due to changing medical advice on the risk of blood clots. Australia initially bought only 10 million Pfizer doses but has increased the order to 40 million shots this year.

The first of 10 million shots of the Moderna vaccine is expected to become available soon.

The...