Two top Australian infectious disease and immunology experts say Papua New Guinea should take up an offer of Chinese-made vaccines.
Australia has sent a first batch of Astrazeneca vaccines to PNG for health workers on the frontline of the country's Covid-19 outbreak.
However European regulations have held up Australia's attempt to divert a million doses of the vaccine to PNG.
Photo: AFP
The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported China made repeated overtures to PNG in recent months, offering to send vaccines to the country.
China's Foreign Ministry said it has supplied the Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines to 69 countries including Cambodia, Serbia and Indonesia.
Sydney University professor Robert Booy and ANU professor Peter Collignon said PNG should take whatever vaccines it could secure.
Booy said Chinese vaccines are becoming better understood and the information coming out suggests that they are safe and effective.
He said that provided confirmation of their safety by the World Health Organisation, use of the vaccines in south-east Asia and the Pacific seems reasonable.
Collignon, who is a committee adviser to the WHO, said if China had a good vaccine that is quality assured, it was silly not to allow that vaccine to be rolled out.
Meanwhile, PNG's health system has become increasingly overwhelmed by the increase in cases, especially in Port Moresby where about a hundred frontline staff have tested positive for the coronavirus.