To date, Australia has contributed 130 million Australian dollars ($100 million) to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment. But in getting COVID-19 vaccines to the Pacific, questions are being raised on whether it will deliver.
“We know that, through multilateral agencies, notwithstanding the best of intentions, in many ways and on many occasions the Pacific does not necessarily achieve the priority that we think it deserves,” Marise Payne, Australia’s foreign minister, told Senate estimates on June 4 when asked whether Australia was doing it’s fair share for the global response.
Instead, Payne said the “strong and very important” bilateral aid program in the region would be Australia’s focus for funding.