Australian PM says ‘sorry’ for slow vaccine rollout
AUSTRALIA: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday apologised to his country for the slow rollout of COVID-19 vaccination campaign, even as cases due to the virus outbreak continue to see a spike amid lockdown.
Talking to reporters, Morrison said, “I’m sorry that we haven’t been able to achieve the marks that we had hoped for at the beginning of this year.”
The country has been inoculating less than 150,000 COVID-19 vaccine jabs a day – much behind other developed countries.
Two of the country’s largest states – New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria - logged sharp increases in the daily infection rates on Wednesday. While NSW, which houses Australia’s largest city Sydney, recorded 110 new cases – up from 78 on the preceding day - Victoria clocked 22 fresh cases. Sydney was put under lockdown on June 26, and the same will remain enforced until at least July 30. Meanwhile, Victoria is staring at an almost two-week lockdown.
The Australian government has said that it will meet its target of vaccinating its adult population by the end of 2021 as millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses from Moderna and Pfizer are expected to arrive in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, a third state – South Australia - began its first day of a week-long lockdown on Wednesday.
- INDIA TODAY
source http://www.dailynews.lk/2021/07/24/world/254719/australian-pm-says-%E2%80%98sorry%E2%80%99-slow-vaccine-rollout
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