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By Swati Pandey
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Some Australian scientists have proposed delaying mass inoculation using AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine in order to consider another vaccine instead.
Questions surrounding the vaccine in Australia, which recorded just one new local case of the coronavirus on Wednesday, have cast a cloud over its vaccination plans, with 53 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine already on order.
Experts cited data showing that the AstraZeneca jab was 62% effective compared to over 90% for a vaccine developed by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech.
“The question is really whether (AstraZeneca) is capable of providing collective immunity. We’re playing a long game here. We don’t know how long that will take,” said Prof Stephen Turner, president of the Australian and New Zealand Society. for immunology (ASI).
Turner added that the government needs to move towards obtaining more Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
Previously, he had told the Sydney Morning Herald that the AstraZeneca vaccine was not a vaccine “I would deploy widely because of this lower efficacy”.
In a statement, ASI said Turner was speaking as an expert in immunology and the agency was not advocating a break in the rollout as widely reported by local media.
Australia has agreed to purchase 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, although neither AstraZeneca nor Pfizer have approval from the country’s pharmaceutical regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
AstraZeneca did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.
Its vaccine is approved in Britain, India and Argentina and is under review by several other countries, including South Korea and Brazil.
“EFFICIENT, SAFE, HIGH QUALITY”
Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has attempted to address concerns about the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine, calling it “effective”, “safe” and “high quality”.
“The great thing about the AstraZeneca vaccine is that it is made right here in Australia,” Kelly said. “It will be available as soon as the TGA gives its tick, which we plan to do in February.”
Kelly said Australia would have more data by February as well as “real world information” from London, which has already deployed the vaccine.
Australia has been more successful than many other countries in managing the pandemic, with a total number of infections in the country of 25 million people for around 28,600, with 909 deaths. (Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/34pvUyi)
Its success is largely attributable to closed borders and widespread compliance with social distancing rules, as well as aggressive testing and testing programs.
Given the low number of cases and community transmission rates, some experts say Australia could afford to wait for a more effective vaccine.
“The government needs to be flexible in its deployment decisions once we have a better understanding of the effectiveness of other vaccines,” said Adrian Esterman, president of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of Australia from South.
Australia on Wednesday recorded a new case of the local coronavirus in its most populous state of New South Wales.
In Queensland, hundreds of hotel quarantine guests have been forced to resume isolation after a handful of cases at the facility have been linked to the highly contagious UK virus strain.
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Reuters COVID-19 tracker https://tmsnrt.rs/34pvUyi)
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(Reporting by Swati Pandey; Editing by Gerry Doyle, Sam Holmes and Mike Collett-White)
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