Australia approves Pfizer vaccine, warns of limited global supply of AstraZeneca

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia on Monday approved the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, but warned that AstraZeneca’s international production problems mean the country is expected to distribute a locally made vaccine earlier than expected.

The country’s medical regulator was one of the first in the world to complete full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday, noting that the first local coronavirus case was detected a year ago.

Vaccination of priority groups with the Pfizer vaccine is expected to start in late February at 80,000 doses per week, Health Minister Greg Hunt told reporters.

Pfizer had told the Australian government that it was planning continuous supply but would provide global production guidance “in mid-February to March and beyond on a weekly basis,” he said.

The update to the Australian deployment comes after AstraZeneca Plc told European Union officials on Friday it would cut deliveries of its vaccine to the bloc by 60% in the first quarter due to production issues.

Hunt said AstraZeneca has informed Australia that the company has “had a major supply shock and that means we won’t have as much of this AstraZeneca international in March as they had previously promised. “.

The AstraZeneca vaccine has yet to be approved by Australia, which plans to launch the domestic supply of CSLs of the AstraZeneca vaccine in March, ahead of schedule, at 1 million doses per week, he said. .

“The decision to pay a premium for onshore, secure and sovereign vaccine manufacturing capacity through CSL, which places Australia in a much more secure position than almost any other country in the world,” Hunt said.

Australia has set a target of 4 million doses of vaccine by April. He also pledged to deliver vaccines to Pacific island nations at a later time.

The Pfizer vaccine has been provisionally approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for Australians aged 16 and over.

Australia will administer both doses of the vaccine to each recipient at the recommended time.

Quarantine and border staff, front-line health workers, elderly and disability care staff and residents will be the first group to receive vaccines.

There have been no new cases of community transmission in Australia in the past seven days, and there are no Australians with coronavirus in hospital intensive care units. Hunt compared that with six million cases worldwide in the past 10 days and 125,000 lives lost.

“This comparison is almost unbelievable, the difference between where we are in Australia and abroad,” he said.

To ensure this remains the case, Australia suddenly suspended its travel bubble with New Zealand for 72 hours on Monday and ordered everyone who had arrived since January 14 to self-isolate and be tested, after New Zealand confirmed its first community COVID-19 case in months.

“It will be done as a precaution while more is learned about the event and the case,” Hunt told reporters later today.

Australia has had just under 28,800 cases in the past year, the overwhelming majority in the state of Victoria and 909 deaths.