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SYDNEY (REUTERS) – The Australian government has agreed to buy two more Covid-19 vaccines under development, bolstering the country’s potential arsenal against the pandemic to 135 million doses as it aims to complete a mass inoculation program in a few months.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Thursday that the government will buy 40 million doses of Novavax and 10 million from Pfizer and BioNTech.
That is in addition to the 85 million doses Australia has already pledged to purchase from AstraZeneca and CSL Ltd should the trials be successful, bringing the country’s total planned outlay to A $ 3.2 billion (A $ 3.12 billion). Singapore dollars).
“We are not putting all of our eggs in one basket,” Morrison told reporters in Sydney.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said the Novavax and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, which will be manufactured in the United States and Europe, would complement AstraZeneca and CSL products, which would be manufactured in Australia.
“That means that we are now in a very strong position with the portfolio of four different vaccines, two proteins, a viral vector and an MRMA, which is the Pfizer vaccine, and that is groundbreaking: the world has not had an MRMA vaccine before. , “Mr. Hunt told the Nine Network television station.
The Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, and Novavax vaccines are considered to be among the top candidates in the global race for regulatory approval.
If the trials are successful, Australia expects to receive the first batches of the AstraZeneca vaccine in early 2021 and begin a mass launch in March to be completed by the end of the year.
If all four vaccines hit the market, Australia and its population of 26 million people will find themselves overdosed, even taking into account the fact that many of the candidates in development require two doses to be effective.
Australia has said it plans to donate any surplus doses to Pacific Island countries and has pledged to spend around A $ 525 million to ensure that the Pacific nations and East Timor achieve full immunization coverage.
Australia is the largest donor of aid to the Pacific islands, and in recent months it has tried to step up its commitment for fear that it risks being overshadowed by Chinese aid and financial support.
LOCAL ZERO TRANSMISSION
The announcement of the planned new vaccine purchases came as Australia recorded no locally transmitted Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours for the second time in a week.
The country recorded the first day without local cases since early June on Sunday.
Australia has reported just over 27,600 coronavirus cases and 907 deaths, far fewer than most other developed countries thanks to extensive testing, contact tracing and lockdowns.
As the number of national cases has dropped to less than 10 each day, states and territories have reopened borders and relaxed different levels of social distancing restrictions.
Qantas Airways said on Thursday it would increase the number of flights between the states of New South Wales and Victoria after officials announced on Wednesday that border restrictions would be lifted later this month.
The national airline will go from the ten roundtrip flights it currently operates each week between Sydney and Melbourne to more than 250 weekly flights between the two states.
The Sydney-Melbourne route was one of the busiest in the world before the pandemic.
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