[ad_1]
CANBERRA: Australia viewed the launch of a coronavirus vaccine in mid-2021 as the best-case scenario in its pandemic planning that would save the economy tens of billions of dollars, the treasurer said on Wednesday (Oct 7).
The Departments of the Treasury and Health developed economic models based on the assumption that a vaccine would be widely available in Australia by the end of next year, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said.
“These are very uncertain times and as a government, we have taken all possible steps to give Australia the best possible chance of receiving a vaccine,” Frydenberg told the National Press Club.
The Treasury model does not envision a vaccine being available in Australia early next year. An early vaccine is expected to be rolled out from July 1, providing certainty to households and businesses while promoting consumption and investment.
This supposed bullish scenario also assumes that international students would return to Australian universities at the end of next year due to the vaccine. Hundreds of thousands of foreign students have turned the Australian university sector into one of the largest foreign exchange earners in the country.
The scenario would boost Australian economic activity by AU $ 34 billion (US $ 24 billion) above the current forecast in the June 2022 quarter. Economic growth would be 1.5 percentage points higher in fiscal 2021- 22 than the 4.75% currently expected. .
READ: Australia’s state of Victoria hits lower COVID-19 infection milestone
Researchers are working on the development of more than 170 potential COVID-19 vaccines. A June survey of 28 vaccine experts, mostly American and Canadian, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found that most were pessimistic that a vaccine would be available before mid-2021, but thought September or October was possible.
Frydenberg announced on Tuesday a series of pandemic measures that would create a record deficit of A $ 214 billion ($ 153 billion) in the current fiscal year. Assuming that a vaccine will be available closer to the end of 2021 than in July, annual deficits are projected to narrow in the next fiscal year and beyond.
“We are all hopeful … that we will find a vaccine, and we have made that assumption by the end of next year, but obviously, given that there are advances in health and the global community, we will continue to update our position,” Frydenberg said Wednesday. .
“There is great uncertainty in this pandemic,” he added.
Australia has allowed an earlier launch of vaccines with locally manufactured doses under agreements with two pharmaceutical companies.
If the trials are successful, the University of Oxford / AstraZeneca and the University of Queensland / CSL will provide more than 84.8 million doses of vaccines for the Australian population, almost entirely manufactured in Melbourne, with early access to 3.8 million doses of the vaccine from Oxford University. in January and February 2021.
The government is committed to making any vaccine available for free to Australia’s population of 26 million.
CHECK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments
Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram
