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Australia has agreed to buy one other 50 million doses of two more COVID-19 vaccines, Prime Minister Scott Morrison stated on Thursday, as Canberra goals to finish a mass inoculation programme inside months.
Australia in September stated it had agreed to spend A$1.7 billion ($1.2 billion) to purchase 85 million vaccine doses from AstraZeneca and CSL Ltd ought to the paths show profitable.
But in search of to maximise entry to potential vaccines, Australia stated on Thursday it had additionally agreed to buy two different inoculations.
Australia would purchase 40 million doses from Novavax and 10 million from Pfizer and BioNTech, Morrison stated.”We aren’t placing all our eggs in a single basket,” Morrison informed reporters in Sydney.
The deals with Novavax, Pfizer, and BioNTech are price about A$1.5 billion.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine together with AstraZeneca’s and Novavax’s are among the many main candidates within the race to be the primary to get regulatory approval within the United States and Europe.
Should trials show profitable, Australia expects to obtain the primary batches of the AstraZeneca vaccine in early 2021.
Health Minister Greg Hunt stated ought to all go to plan, vaccinations would start in March.”The purpose and the expectation is that Australians who sought vaccination shall be vaccinated inside 2021,” Hunt stated.
Australia has reported simply over 27,600 coronavirus instances and 907 deaths, far fewer than most different developed international locations because of intensive testing, contact tracing and lockdowns.
Case numbers have slowed to fewer than 10 every day, permitting states and territories to chill out social-distancing restrictions.
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