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 "Immunisation saves lives," Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne
said in a statement. "The COVID-19 pandemic has served as yet
another reminder that investing in vaccine access is critical to
regional health security."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will make the pledge at the virtual
summit hosted by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to raise funds
for the GAVI vaccine alliance, a public-private global health
partnership.
GAVI is backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World
Health Organization, the World Bank, UNICEF and others, and arranges
bulk buys to reduce vaccine costs for poor countries.
The summit aims to raise at least $7.4 billion for GAVI to immunise
300 million children in the world's poorest countries by 2025
against diseases such as polio, diphtheria and measles.
Australia's funding commitment will help to ensure that GAVI
maintains a strong focus in the Indo-Pacific region, Payne said.
GAVI will spend $800 million over five years providing access to
vaccines for 140 million children in the Indo-Pacific.
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Under the program, 4 million children in Indonesia will access pneumococcal
vaccines at a quarter of the commercial cost, and 400,000 children in Papua New
Guinea will access vaccines under the program, Payne said.
GAVI will provide $200 million to continue immunisation programs where possible
during the COVID-19 pandemic, and will later organise catch-up immunisation
campaigns.
Alex Hawke, Australia's Minister for International Development and the Pacific,
said more than 1.5 million children in the Pacific and Timor-Leste had
previously been vaccinated under the program.
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
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