Australian businesses join Covid vaccination alliance

Leading Australian businesses, organisations and philanthropists have pledged to help end the pandemic.

UNICEF Australia Chair Ann Sherry. Picture: AAP

Leading Australian businesses, organisations and philanthropists have pledged to help end the pandemic by joining the Covid Vaccination Alliance of UNICEF and funding vaccines worldwide.

At an alliance meeting in Sydney on Tuesday, executives from the resources, finance, travel, media, retail and e-commerce sectors committed to raising funds to support the work of COVAX through UNICEF Australia and promoting Australian vaccine uptake by improving ­access to trusted and reliable ­information.

UNICEF Australia is working to raise $20m from the private sector for the alliance to support an urgent rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in low and middle-income countries.

To date, only 1 per cent of vaccines have been distributed to low-income countries, compared with 47 per cent to high-income nations.

Founding alliance member Newcrest Mining has committed close to $2.5m to assist the vaccine rollout in Papua New Guinea.

Other founding alliance members include Cotton On Group, KPMG, the GHD Foundation and eBay Australia.

“As we are dealing with a ­global health crisis, we need to work together more than we ever have before to help vaccinate the world,” UNICEF Australia chair Ann Sherry said.

Advocacy members including Qantas, News Corp, TikTok and the Australia PNG Business Council are focusing on building public trust and encouraging vaccine take-up in Australia.

News Corp executive chairman Michael Miller said a pandemic required a global solution.

“It is the responsibility of all of us, including private businesses and the media, to step up and look after those that are less fortunate,” he said. “If we leave people, communities and countries behind, Covid will continue to dominate our lives.”

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said a successful vaccine rollout was critical.