Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan has secured one million COVID-19 vaccine doses for Papua New Guinea (PNG), which neighbours Australia to the north, and has been experiencing a severe outbreak. The arrangement was secured after Tehan approached AstraZeneca directly while visiting Europe and the United Kingdom to shore up Australia’s vaccine supplies. The one million doses originally set for Australia can be diverted to PNG without needing to apply to the European Union (EU) for permission. News Corp’s The Australian reported that Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU trade commissioner, agreed that the vaccines could be sent to PNG without the obstacle of the EU export mechanism. Prime Minister Scott Morrison and others have been highly critical of the fact more than three million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines destined for Australia have been held up in Europe after European authorities imposed export controls to ensure they had enough stock for their citizens. This might …