Receives Four Million Doses Of Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccine From UK, Australia Sets Another Infection Case Record

The Prime Minister of the State of New South Wales Gladys Berejiklian. (Twitter/@GladysB))

JAKARTA - Australia has secured 4 million doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in a swap deal with Britain, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday, as he seeks to convince states and territories to stick to a national COVID-19 reopening plan.

PM Morrison said the additional 4 million doses of the vaccine would double Pfizer's supply of vaccine for this month, accelerating the country's efforts to emerge from its economic-damaging coronavirus lockdown.

"The plane is on the tarmac now, leaving soon. This will allow us to significantly advance the opportunity for Australia to reopen (lockdown)", Morrison told reporters in Canberra on Friday, citing Reuters September 3.

PM Morrison has been heavily criticized for failing to secure supplies of a COVID-19 vaccine, delaying the launch of vaccinations in the country, impacting targets that were delayed for months.

The state government said its vaccination program was hampered by a lack of supply of Pfizer vaccine, which is needed to vaccinate the younger population.

The vaccine deal comes ahead of a meeting of federal and state leaders on Friday, with the virus-free states of Queensland and Western Australia marking they could delay reopening plans, due to escalating outbreaks of the Delta variant in Sydney and Melbourne.

More than half of Kangaroo Country's population of 25 million people are under stay-at-home orders, with Sydney, Melbourne, and the national capital Canberra in prolonged lockdown. The entire state is enjoying a largely COVID-19 free life, but the state has closed borders to stop the Delta variant from entering its jurisdiction.

Queensland Prime Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk on Friday said modeling of how COVID-19 affects children must be in place before she can decide to relax border rules.

"Instead of fighting and attacking, let's have a proper and educated conversation," he said after his comments drew criticism from the federal government.

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham told Nine News Palaszczuk "focused on the fear side rather than on the factual and calm analysis that needs to be done to educate the population".

To note, Australia in July unveiled a four-stage roadmap towards easing the lockdown, provided the vaccination rate reaches 70 percent - 80 percent. Currently, only about 36 percent of the population over the age of 16 have received the complete COVID-19 vaccine.

The row between states and the federal government comes as PM Morrison wants an end to the lockdown, followed by a turnaround in the economy ahead of elections next year.

Queensland and Western Australia said they had agreed on a national reopening target as cases in New South Wales were low. However, cases in the state have continued to spread, with Friday reporting the worst day of the pandemic, with 1,431 new infections and 12 deaths reported due to the Delta variant.

New South Wales Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian warned residents to prepare for a spike in the number of cases, as the next two weeks are likely to be the worst in terms of the number of cases.

Meanwhile, Victoria, home to Melbourne, reported 208 new cases, up from 176 the day before. One new death was recorded in the state.

A total of nearly 58,200 cases and 1,032 deaths have been recorded in Australia since the pandemic began, far lower than many of Australia's equivalent countries.