AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine approved for use in Australia

AUSTRALIA has approved AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine, making it the second jab approved for use in the country.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) provisionally approved the vaccine after it met strict standards around safety, quality and efficacy, the regulator said on Tuesday.

It has been approved for adults aged 1 and over but the regulator says the decision to immunize those aged over 65 should be made on a caseby-case basis.

AstraZeneca said the evidence to date suggested elderly recipients produced a strong immune response and tolerated the vaccine well.

“If you listen to what TGA head Professor Skerritt said today, all people should be vaccinated and that includes over 65s,” AstraZeneca Australia president Liz Chatwin told reporters.

“It’s really important to remember that we’re in a global pandemic and there are thousands of people being admitted to hospital and dying every day, and people over 65 are more at risk.

“So the overwhelming public health advice is that as many people as possible should be vaccinated,” Chatwin said.

The TGA said there were no safety concerns associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for all Australians to listen to official medical advice. Opinion polls indicate some 20 per cent of the population is sceptical about the vaccines.

“We have the best medical experts in the world. They are the ones who are making decisions about what is safe to take and whether it will be effective,” he told reporters in Canberra.

The AstraZeneca jab should be be administered in two doses, 12 weeks apart, according to the TGA.

Initial supplies of the vaccine will be imported into Australia from overseas before 50 million doses are manufactured locally, news agency AAP reported.

The first jabs using the Pfizer/ ioNtech vaccine will be administered from Monday after a shipment of 142,000 doses landed in Australia.

The rollout is to begin across 0 to 50 hospital sites covering aged care and disability residents and workers, frontline health workers, as well as quarantine and border workers, AAP reported.

It will start with the inoculation of quarantine and border workers, front line health officials and people in aged or disability care, as well as individuals working in care before expanding to 1,000 vaccine administration sites.

Australia, a nation of around 25 million people, has recorded around 2 ,700 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic - significantly a lower per capita rate than most developed countries.