Greg Norman blasts Joe Biden for failing to provide Australia with excess vaccine doses

Golf legend Greg Norman slams US President for failing to give Australia some of its millions of vaccine doses sitting unused.

Golfer Greg Norman says Australia should not have to beg the US for vaccines that will otherwise go to waste.

Golf legend Greg Norman has blasted President Joe Biden for failing to provide Australia with some of its millions of vaccine doses that are sitting unused in warehouses and about to expire.

Commenting on The Weekend Australian’s revelations today that the Morrison government has made urgent appeals to the Biden administration for access to some of its estimated 26 million excess doses of Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna, The Shark appealed to the President and the White House to help Australia out.

“Living in the States for 40+ years I am so dismayed with this article and the fact that little brother has to beg to big brother for unused vaccines about to expire after all we have done in support for eons,” Norman wrote on Instagram.

“We have stood shoulder to shoulder in every war America has fought (except domestic) and this is a war. We are meant to be allies.

“Come on @joebiden @potus @whitehouse help little brother”.

The Weekend Australian has spoken to three high-level sources involved with the negotiations ­between Australia and the US and it is understood Australia has “made representations” over the course of several weeks for access to America’s excess Pfizer ­vaccines.

All of Australia’s requests have so far been unsuccessful.

A senior Australian government source said the representations were continuing.

Leading Republicans are pushing the Biden administration to provide Australia the excess doses of Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines – some of which expire this month.

Michael McCaul, the senior Republican on the House foreign affairs committee, said Australia should be prioritised for the doses, followed by developing nations where China was exerting influence through vaccine diplomacy.

“Australia is not only an ally but a Five Eyes ally,” Mr McCaul said.

Senior US Republican Michael McCaul. Picture: AFP

“I’ve been pressuring this ­administration through the Covax program to give more of these ­vaccines that are just sitting in warehouses in the US.

“They will expire if we don’t get them out the door.”

“I think particularly a Five Eyes ally should get the vaccines … and then we need to get it to countries like Sri Lanka, to African nations and Latin America where we know the Chinese are playing a pretty big game of vaccine diplomacy, to vaccinate people against the very virus that they created.”

Mike Gallagher, the Republican co-chairman of the Friends of Australia congressional caucus, is also backing the move.

“The United States has vaccine doses set to expire at the same time our Australian mates need extra doses,” Mr Gallagher said.

“The Biden administration should be doing everything in its power to get these doses to ­Australia.”

About one million doses have gone to waste in the US since ­December, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

Association of State and Territorial Health Officials chief ­medical officer Marcus Plescia told The New York Times: “Here we are with loads of ­vaccine, and there are other countries in the world where people are desperate for vaccination.”

Despite interest from some US states in sharing excess vaccines, the doses are owned by the federal government which is preventing their redistribution.

One source involved in the ­negotiations between Australia and the US, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it would be politically awkward for the US to send excess vaccines to a “rich” country because it could be seen as undermining the administration’s commitment to deliver 500 million doses to developing nations, under a $US3.5bn ($4.7bn) deal with Pfizer, by the end of 2022.

The negotiations are still ­ongoing as the US currently has excess supplies, but sources were not hopeful of a positive outcome.

One source said the ­negotiations were all “up in the ether”.

A third insider said the US was reluctant to commit any doses to Australia, because it might need to divert the vaccinations to hot spots in the US amid a fresh outbreak of the Delta variant.