Shawdesh Desk:

Australia says it has secured an extra four million doses of the Pfizer vaccine from the UK in a swap deal.

Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the extra vaccines would help his country come out of its lockdowns sooner.

About half of Australia’s population is currently in lockdown due to outbreaks in the cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, reports BBC.

Under the deal, Australia will send the same amount of doses back to the UK later in the year.

Australia has ramped up vaccination rates in recent weeks, after drawing criticism for a slow rollout.

Morrison said the Pfizer doses would leave for Australia on September 4.