Sky News host Sharri Markson says a recent report has outlined that a European move to shore up supplies of both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines is likely to derail the pace of Australia’s vaccination program.
Ms Markson said The Australian newspaper has reported Australia will only receive 1.2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, instead of the 3.8 million it had planned to deliver.
“And Pfizer has warned that 10 million doses earmarked for Australia are now at risk,” Ms Markson said.
"EU export restrictions - designed to prioritise Europe first - are threatening global supplies with wealthy countries fighting over limited vaccine supplies".
Ms Markson discussed the issue with Trade Minister Dan Tehan.
Mr Tehan said the government is “very confident” that the COVID-19 vaccine rollout will “kick off” in late February.
“We’ve put in place contingences … we’re confident that we’ll be able to deliver the rollout,” Mr Tehan said.
Australia is “ahead of most countries” regarding a relationship with China, particularly on the trade and investment front, according to federal Trade Minister Dan Tehan.
“We’re ahead of most countries because we’ve got the free trade agreement which we negotiated under a Coalition government,” Mr Tehan told Sky News.
“It’s a very good free trade agreement and our challenge now is to make sure that we use that free trade agreement that we’ve got with China to continue to grow the economic relationship in a very constructive way.”
Mr Tehan stressed the need for “constructive” dialogue with China and the push for trade and investment liberalisation.
“That’s what we want to be doing in Australia, I’m sure that that’s what President Xi is seeking to do from a Chinese perspective,” he said.
“So what we’ve got to do is make sure that we can have that constructive dialogue so that we can practice what we preach.”