Australian PM Scott Morrison urges sharing of Covid-19 vaccine

While virtually addressing the 75th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that members of the world body have a "moral responsibility" to share an effective Covid-19 vaccine.

He made the remarks on Saturday via video-link.

"Whoever finds the vaccine must share it. This is a global responsibility, and it's a moral responsibility, for a vaccine to be shared far and wide," Morrison was quoted as saying by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in a news report.

"Some might see short-term advantage, or even profit. 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."

The Prime Minister pledged to share with the world any discoveries made in the country's three local Covid-19 vaccine trials.

"If we find the vaccine we will share it. That's the pledge we all must make," he said.

Australia has spent A$6 million to help fund the research and development of potential vaccines from the Doherty Institute, the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the University of Sydney.

Meanwhile, Morrison also said there is a "clear mandate" for Australian-led efforts to push for an international probe into the origins of the coronavirus, which was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019.

"Australia strongly advocated for this review to identify the zoonotic source of the Covid-19 virus and how it was transmitted to humans," the ABC news report cited the Prime Minister as saying.

"This virus has inflicted a calamity on our world and its peoples. We must do all we can to understand what happened for no other purpose than to prevent it from happening again."