Australia’s AstraZeneca dramas are South Pacific’s gain in vaccination race

One million vaccines have been donated to Fiji, Timor-Leste, Tonga, and other island neighbours to fight the local Covid scourge.

A silver lining has emerged from the confusion and mixed messaging around the AstraZeneca vaccine in Australia: More than one million jabs that would have gone begging here have been donated to Pacific Island nations battling their own deadly wave of coronavirus infections.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that the Australian government has been able to share over one million doses of the AstraZeneca jab, which has been the subject of controversy in Australia thanks to changing advice from ATAGI despite its successful deployment in other nations around the world.

Air Movements Operators from No. 23 Squadron load pallets of AstraZeneca vaccines and COVID-19 medical supplies bound for Fiji onto a C-130J Hercules, at RAAF Base Amberley.

Fiji, where more than 220 people in the island nation of 900,000 have died of Covid since April, has received over a half million doses and Timor-Leste, which has taken 277,850 doses and has been hit not just by the coronavirus but a recent devastating cyclone.

Other major recipients of the jabs include the Solomon Islands, Samoa, Vanuatu, and Tonga.

An additional 200,000 doses are slated to be sent all around the Pacific, but have not been allocated yet to specific nations.

The jabs are understood to be a diplomatic and humanitarian win for both Australia and neighbouring island states, where China has in recent months been flooding the market with their own vaccines which are generally thought to be less effective.

Across the globe, countries that have jabbed large proportions of their populations with Chinese-made vaccines have experienced devastating waves of coronavirus infections due to the medicines’ lower ability to prevent both serious illness and transmission.

Residents waiting inside a vaccination center for their AstraZeneca dose against Covid-19 in Suva. Picture: Leon Lord/AFP

As well as helping our neighbours in need, officials familiar with the program hope the much needed AstraZeneca jabs will eventually enable travel bubbles between Australia and the Pacific that will allow easier travel for tourists, seasonal workers, and separated families.

“One of our key priorities is to make sure countries in our region have access to safe and effective Covid vaccines. This is the right thing to do and I’ll continue to ensure supply to Pacific nations,” said Lt Gen John Frewen, co-ordinator general of Operation Covid Shield.

“The health and safety of our pacific neighbours is critical to Australia’s health security and I’m working with DFAT to ensure a supply of vaccines to help the region’s recovery,” he said.