DOSE OF DIPLOMACY

Excess vaccine could go to Pacific neighbours

EXCESS AstraZeneca doses produced in Australia could be sent to the Pacific after damaging advice over its use in young people.

Australia’s plans for vaccine sovereignty took a hit earlier this month when authorities advised against administering the AstraZeneca vaccine to people aged under 50.

And with 50 million doses to be produced in Melbourne, Health Minister Greg Hunt has revealed surplus vaccine could now be exported to assist immunisation efforts in the Pacific.

“If this gives us a chance to ensure our neighbours have more access to vaccines earlier, that’s an important part,” Mr Hunt told Sunrise on Friday.

But with the vaccine still advised for the over-50 population, Mr Hunt said vaccinating that cohort remained the government’s priority.

“What we’ll do is firstly make sure that everybody who needs it has it,” he said.

“Enough for the first doses, enough of the second doses for the over 50s.”

He said the government’s capacity to help its Pacific neighbours would be subject to a review.

The federal government struck a deal with drug manufacturer CSL to make the AstraZeneca jab onshore, arguing the measure would reduce Australia’s reliance on overseas supply chains.

But after just 700,000 of the expected 3.8 million doses arrived from overseas, the news that AstraZeneca was not advised for people aged under 50 forced the Coalition to abandon all vaccination timetables.

The government on Thursday moved to fast-track vaccinations in the over-50 bracket and confirmed the Pfizer vaccine would, with few exceptions, in future only be administered to people under that age.

“All of this is taking it forward. We had medical advice, we have made changes, and this is what has kept us safe,” Mr Hunt said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison meanwhile confirmed on Thursday that arrivals from India would be slashed by a third, while Australians would be banned from travelling to the country except in “very urgent circumstances”.

The country is grappling with the world’s worst outbreak, on Thursday recording the biggest single-day case increase of any country since the pandemic began and accounting for 40 per cent of cases in Australia’s hotel quarantine.

Mr Hunt accepted that India was going through a “terrible agony” but said the government’s priority was protecting Australians at home and returning them from abroad.

“(The reduction) is in line with what we believe the hotel quarantine system can safely bear. But if that needs to be reduced, we won’t hesitate to do it. We did that last night, and we will do it again if necessary,” he told Today.