Australia should make any coronavirus vaccine compulsory for its 25 million citizens bar medical exemptions, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said as he waded into a heated ethical debate.
After reaching a deal for the country to manufacture a "promising" vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, Mr Morrison said getting the jab should be "as mandatory as you can possibly make it". "There are always exemptions for any vaccine on medical grounds, but that should be the only basis," he told radio station 3AW in Melbourne.
Anticipating a backlash from vocal anti-vaccine activists, Mr Morrison said the stakes were too high to allow the disease to continue unchecked. "We're talking about a pandemic that has destroyed the global