Aussies expect to receive vaccine in months

SYDNEY: Australia expects to receive its first batches of a potential Covid-19 vaccine in January, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, as the number of new daily infections in the country’s virus hotspot fell to a 10-week low.

Morrison said his government has struck a deal with CSL Ltd to manufacture two vaccines – one developed by rival AstraZeneca and Oxford University, and another developed in CSL’s own labs with the University of Queensland.

“Australia needs some hope,” Morrison said in Canberra. “Today, we take another significant step to protect the health of Australians against the coronavirus pandemic.”

Health Minister Greg Hunt said scientists leading the development of both vaccines have advised that recent evidence suggests both will offer “multi-year protection”.

Morrison said CSL is expected to deliver 3.8 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is undergoing late-stage clinical trials in Britain, Brazil and South Africa, in January and February next year.

AstraZeneca’s AZD1222 candidate is viewed as a frontrunner in the global race to deliver an effective vaccine to combat the virus.

Australia had announced in August that it planned to buy AZD1222, along with an agreement of intent from CSL to manufacture it. That plan was thrown into some doubt when CSL announced shortly afterwards that it would prioritise the manufacture of its own vaccine.

Morrison’s announcement yesterday that Australia would also purchase the CSL drug if trials proved successful appeared to be the culmination of a deal to get both vaccines across the line.

The CSL vaccine is due to begin second stage clinical trials in late 2020, meaning the earliest it could hit the market would be mid-2021.

Should both vaccines pass clinical trials, Australia will spend A$1.7bil (RM5bil) for a total of nearly 85 million doses, Morrison said.

The agreement came as Australia reported its lowest one-day rise in new Covid-19 cases since June 26, with 45 infections in the past 24 hours, 41 of which were recorded in Victoria state.