History will be ‘severe judge’: Australia PM on not sharing vaccine

Addressing the 75th session of UN General Assembly, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that any country developing a COVID-19 vaccine should be willing to share it universally, warning that history will be a “severe judge” if not.

The statement comes at a time when the United States has refused to join COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, or COVAX, an initiative working to provide worldwide access to an effective vaccine.

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“When it comes to a vaccine, Australia’s view is very clear — whoever finds the vaccine must share it,” Morrison said in a message to the virtual UN General Assembly recorded in front of the iconic Sydney Opera House. “This is a global responsibility and it’s a moral responsibility for a vaccine to be shared far and wide,” he said.

“Some might see the short-term advantage or even profit, but I assure you, to anyone who may think along those lines — humanity will have a very long memory and be a very, very severe judge,” he added.

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Morrison vowed that Australia will share a vaccine if it discovers it and promised support for Covax, the UN initiative that aims to have two billion doses of a vaccine ready for universal distribution by late 2021. The United States, China and Russia — which, to wide scepticism, has already unveiled its own vaccine — have shunned COVAX.