Multiple vaccines on track

HOPE is rising among medical experts around the world that multiple coronavirus vaccines will be available next year to bring an end to the disastrous COVID- 19 pandemic.

American biotechnology company Moderna is the latest to report that its COVID- 19 vaccine is on track, having been 94.5 per cent effective in its phase three trial.

While the federal government does not have a specific deal with Moderna, Australia can access its vaccine through the global COVAX facility.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Tuesday that with more than 200 vaccines in development worldwide, Australian medical experts had “chosen very well” with its four candidates.

Australia does have a deal with Pfizer for its vaccine, which uses the same mRNA technology as Moderna’s candidate and recently reported similarly strong results.

Mr Hunt said the Moderna update was “extremely important and positive”, and that trials of vaccines were “providing to be more successful than we had hoped”.

“All four that our experts have selected are tracking very well,” he said. “We are fortunate to be in one of the strongest positions in the world.”

However, opposition health spokesman Chris Bowen called for the government to explain why it did not have a deal with Moderna.

“While the minister likes to say we have enough vaccines three times over, that assumes all four deals will be rapidly successful,” he said.

The Moderna results came from a trial with 30,000 participants, with 90 COVID- 19 cases occurring in the placebo group and just five in the vaccine group.

Dr Richard Hatchett, the head of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, said the results were “terrifically encouraging”.