“One million additional Pfizer doses will begin arriving in Australia from tonight after a significant agreement was reached with the Republic of Poland," Morrison said in a statement on Sunday.
"The additional doses are on top of the 40 million Pfizer doses that Australia has already secured for 2021, and will provide a boost to the vaccine roll-out across the country," he added.
"I want to personally thank [Poland's] Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and his government for their generous support of Australia’s COVID-19 response, during this challenging time," Morrison also said in his statement.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said a network of diplomats was "working hard to identify opportunities to secure additional vaccine supplies" for her country.
Australia purchased surplus vaccines, which were produced at Pfizer’s Belgium facility, "on a not-for-profit basis" from Poland, according to the statement.
"These are the same highly safe and effective Pfizer vaccines that are currently being administered in Australia," the statement said.
Australian envoy praises Polish officials
The Australian ambassador to Poland, Lloyd Brodrick, has also thanked the Polish prime minister and said that leaders and officials from Poland's health and foreign ministries as well as the Government Strategic Reserves Agency (RARS) "had worked tirelessly" with the Australian embassy in Warsaw "to organise the vaccine shipment to make sure it reached Australia as quickly as possible," to help address the country’s current COVID-19 outbreak.
"I cannot thank these friends from the Health Ministry, RARS and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs enough for their efforts and their professionalism," Brodrick said in a tweet.
The deliveries come after the Polish government official in charge of the vaccine rollout announced in July that Poland would share its surplus of COVID-19 vaccines with other countries.
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Source: PAP, pm.gov.au