Australia buys additional doses of 1 million COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna

CANBERRA, Sept. 12 (Reuters) – Australia has bought a million extra doses of the European Union’s COVID-19 Modern (MRNA.O) vaccine, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said as the country accelerates its inoculation program to fight high infections. .

The purchase is a boost to the Australian economy of $ 2 trillion ($ 1.5 trillion), which is at risk of falling into its second recession in so many years as a result of the blockades of the two most populous cities of the country, Sydney and Melbourne.

These blockades will be maintained until 70% of the country’s nearly 26 million population is fully vaccinated, which is not expected until the end of October.

But Morrison said the million doses will arrive later this week. Australia has commissioned 25 million vaccines from Moderna.

“Some good news today. A dose of family-sized hope for our vaccination program,” Morrison told reporters in Sydney.

The purchase comes as Australia struggles to contain an outbreak of the highly transmissible Delta variant, with daily infections on Saturday surpassing 2,000 cases for the first time.

Australia has reported 73,610 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began. The death toll rose from 7 to 1,091.

Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, reported 1,262 cases of locally acquired COVID-19 on Sunday in the past 24 hours, below the 1,599 infections recorded the day before.

Neighbor Victoria reported 392 COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, slightly less than the 450 cases recorded in the state the day before.

Meanwhile, Queensland, Australia’s third most populous state, said on Sunday it did not need to order a blockade after detecting zero COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours.

The state reported five cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, and state Prime Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk warned that a blockade could be needed to stop the spread of the virus.

However, the state said the tests had not yet detected any other cases, avoiding the need for such a measure.

“We’re not out of the woods yet, but that’s the best outcome we could expect at this point in the outbreak,” Queensland Deputy Minister Steven Miles told the Brisbane press.

(1 $ = 1.3596 Australian dollars)

Edited by Paul Simao and Jacqueline Wong

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