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- In an effort to instil confidence in the government’s decisions, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday that he won’t rush the approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine
- With the vaccine already in use in the U.K. and officially endorsed by health experts in the U.S., he added that Australia “has a front-row seat” to observe how other countries handle the rollout
- Morrison’s comments came as researchers abandoned a vaccine under development by the University of Queensland and CSL, which had produced false positive results to HIV tests
- The government said it will now increase its orders for the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca vaccine, as well as the one under development by Novavax
- The increased order from AstraZeneca could mean that Australia can produce enough doses locally to inoculate its 26 million people
- So far the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of 908 Australians, with 47 active cases today, 36 of which are in hospital
In an effort to instil confidence in the government’s decisions, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday that he won’t rush the approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
He said Australia is in a different position to the United Kingdom, which has already administered initial doses, and the United States, where a government advisory panel has now endorsed the rollout of Pfizer’s candidate.
“We want to ensure that Australians – and I think all of us feel very strongly this way – have … absolute full confidence that when it gets the tick, they can get the jab,” Morrison said.
“They can make that decision for themselves and for their families confidently.”
He added that Australia “has a front-row seat” to observe how other countries handle the vaccine rollout, thanks in part to a data-sharing agreement with London.
The remarks came as researchers abandoned a vaccine that was under development by the University of Queensland (UQ) and Melbourne-based biopharmaceutical company CSL, which had produced false positive results to HIV tests.
Under an agreement with the government, 51 million doses of the UQ-CSL vaccine were to be manufactured in Australia and made available from the middle of next year, but the flawed results caused by the presence of a protein cast doubt over its suitability.
“All the evidence suggested it would be an effective vaccine, but we cannot risk public confidence. We just can’t,” Health Department secretary Brendan Murphy told reporters.
It was one of five potential vaccines for which the Australian government had signed contracts with developers in deals worth a total of $3.3 billion.
Only one other, the University of Oxford vaccine, would be manufactured in Australia under a partnership between CSL and British-Swedish multinational AstraZeneca.
With UQ’s vaccine now out of the picture, the government said it will increase its planned production and purchase of the AstraZeneca vaccine from 33.8 million to 53.8 million doses and its order for Maryland-based Novavax’s vaccine from 40 million to 51 million doses.
According to Murphy, the increased order for AstraZeneca’s vaccine would mean that Australia could potentially manufacture enough doses for all of its 26 million people.
“Onshore manufacturing is a very precious thing in terms of getting good access over the course of next year,” he said.
Such a capability would be a healthy addition to the existing order with Pfizer for an initial 10 million doses, with an option to buy more if needed.
So far the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of 908 Australians, with 47 active cases today, 36 of which are in hospital.
