Australian-made COVID-19 vaccines approved for use

• More than 800,000 doses of locally made COVID-19 vaccines have been approved for use across Australia
• The AstraZeneca jabs were manufactured by CSL (CSL) at the company’s facilities in Melbourne
• The pharmaceutical giant has been contracted to supply the vaccine to the majority of Australians
• The approved batches mark the first round of locally-made vaccines to be approved for use by health authorities
• Currently, around 281,000 Australians have been inoculated against COVID-19, with the slow rollout of the jabs attracting criticism

More than 800,000 doses of locally made COVID-19 vaccines have been approved for use across Australia.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) announced on Tuesday night that 832,000 doses had been given the green light to be distributed across the nation.

The approved batches mark the first round of locally-made vaccines to be approved for use by health authorities

“Testing of the vaccine batches in our Canberra laboratories, plus review of extensive manufacturing documentation, has ensured that the locally-manufactured vaccine has the exactly the same composition and performance as the overseas-manufactured vaccine,” the agency explained.

“We will now be able to provide secure access to large numbers of doses of a domestically-produced vaccine, with the Australian government having procured 50 million doses for delivery in the coming months,” the TGA added.

Each of the four batches of the AstraZeneca vaccines has been manufactured by CSL (CSL) at the company’s warehouse facilities in Melbourne.

The pharmaceutical giant was awarded the contract to supply 50 million doses of the the vaccine — enough to inoculate the majority of Australians.

Before each batch of the locally-made vaccines can be administered, the TGA needs to review and sign off on each of the rounds of jabs.

Currently, around 281,000 Australians have been inoculated against COVID-19, with two jabs required per person over a span of several weeks.

The Federal Government had hoped to have the majority of Australian’s vaccinated against COVID-19 by October, but has since walked away from the deadline.

The second stage of the rollout, Phase 1B, began on Monday — with anyone aged over 70 able to get the jab as well as Indigenous Australians aged over 55.