PM’s blunt warning on vaccine: Share it or be judged
In a pointed message, Prime Minister Scott Morrison will pledge to the UN that if Australia develops a COVID-19 vaccine first, it will share it and not hoarde it for profit, while maintaining pressure for an inquiry into the virus in defiance of China.
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison staring down rogue nations who may try to horde or profit off COVID-19 vaccines, warning “humanity has a long memory and will be a very, very severe judge”.
He will also stand by calls for the origins of the virus to be investigated, despite China’s anger at Australia for this.
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In a pointed message, Mr Morrison will pledge that if Australia develops the vaccine first, it will share it.
“Whoever finds the vaccine must share it. This is a global responsibility, and it’s a moral responsibility, for a vaccine to be shared far and wide,” he will say this morning in a video address to the United Nations for its 75th anniversary.
“Some might see short-term advantage or even profit.
“But I assure you to anyone who may think along those lines, humanity will have a very long memory and be a very, very severe judge.”
It is understood the comments are not directed at any particular country at this stage.
The University of Queensland’s “molecular clamp” vaccine has been showing promise during it’s phase one trials.
He will also strongly back the investigation into the animal origins of the coronavirus and how it was transmitted to humans.
“This virus has inflicted a calamity on our world and its peoples,” he will say.
“We must do all we can to understand what happened for no other purpose than to prevent it from happening again.”
Australia pushing for the investigation in April created further tensions in the already strained relationship with China.
The Chinese embassy’s second-in-chart Wang Xining in a rare public speech last month accused Australia of having “singled out” China of the source of the virus.
He said it “hurt the feelings of the Chinese people” and comparing it to Brutus’s betrayal of Julius Caesar.
A World Health Organisation investigation, backed by 137 countries, was launched in May but it makes no specific mention of China.
The first recorded mention of the coronavirus, now a global pandemic, was a media statement from the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission on December 31, 2019, about a viral pneumonia in Wuhuan.
Mr Morrison will again warn that the global environment now is enduring one of the most difficult times since then.
“1945 was a defining year in human history. The year the Second World War ended. The year the United Nations was founded. It was a year when humanity found hope amidst despair,” he will say.
“This year is one of the hardest since then.”
