Scott Morrison secures more doses of the 95% effective Pfizer vaccine amid fears Australia was too reliant on the less effective AstraZeneca jab
- Australia has already bought 10million doses and now more are on the way
- The vaccine is 95 per cent effective after two doses, according to trial data
- Australia also has a contract for 53.8million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine
Scott Morrison has secured more 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, enough to vaccinate five million Australians.
The government had already secured 10 million doses of the Pfizer jab, and wants to roll out 80,000 a week by the start of March if they arrive in time.
One dose of the jab is 90 per cent effective at stopping infection after 21 days, a new study of Israel’s vaccination program has found.
Official trials found the jab to be 95 per cent effective after two doses.
Australia’s rollout of the coronavirus vaccine may be delayed due to export controls in the EU. Pictured: A woman is vaccinated in north-west England
The government has also ordered supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine from Europe but these have already been ‘significantly’ reduced after the company suffered production problems.
Australia has the ability to make its own doses at the CSL factory in Melbourne and, once the jab is approved by regulators, supply is due to start in March at 1million doses a week.
The government has a contract for 53.8million doses of the AstraZeneca jab but some doctors raised fears that Australia would never achieve herd immunity with this vaccine because it is only 70 per cent effective at stopping infection.
Earlier this week Oxford University released a study showing the AstraZeneca vaccine cut transmission of the virus by two-thirds and prevented severe disease.
This gives hope to Australians desperate to travel overseas after Mr Morrison said he will only consider opening the borders when more is known about how the vaccines affect transmission.
The government aims to start administering doses of the Pfizer jab – the only vaccine approved in Australia so far – by the end of February.
But the date may be set back because the vaccines are made in Belgium and the European Union on Friday tightened export controls amid a serious shortage.
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