Australia Buys Additional Million Doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine

A lone passenger sits at a tram stop on a mostly-empty city center street on the first day of a lockdown in Melbourne, Australia, on July 16, 2021. Sandra Sanders/Reuters

CANBERRA—Australia has purchased an additional million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine from the European Union, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, as the country accelerates its inoculation program.

The purchase is a boost for Australia’s AU$2 trillion ($1.5 trillion) economy, which is at risk of slipping into its second recession in as many years as a result of lockdowns of the country’s two most populous cities, Sydney and Melbourne.