Questions have been raised about Australia's reliance on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in the fight against COVID-19, with calls for the Federal Government to secure more doses of higher efficacy jabs instead.
The rollout will begin with 10 million doses of the Pfizer jabs — with two injections per person needed — following the recent provisional approval of the vaccine by Australia's drug regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration.Also in the pipeline are a further 54 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which is currently being manufactured locally by CSL in Melbourne and is still being assessed by regulators.
According to a study of vaccine strategies by researchers at the University of New South Wales, Australia could achieve herd immunity if it inoculates 66 per cent of the population with a vaccine that has 90 per cent efficacy — such as the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Australia's former chief medical officer, now head of the Department of Health, Professor Brendan Murphy.
Last week, Moderna said it believes its COVID-19 vaccine protects against emerging variant strains of the virus found in Britain and South Africa, but would study the effectiveness of a third booster shot as added precaution against the latter variant. Mr Hunt declined an interview with 7.30 but in a statement said "it would be deeply concerning if the Opposition sought to undermine confidence in vaccines supported by the Therapeutic Goods Administration and the Academy of Science".
'experts say' Pretty sick of hearing this line tbh
Bunch of vaccine snobs
Definitely NO
The federal government’s national vaccine rollout “strategy” is little more than a sketchy outline. It doesn’t even mention the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Not according to the latest research....
I would ask the question has Australia done enough to completely understand the virus.