Australia coronavirus vaccine is expected to be available in January 2021, according to the announcement by Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
The number of new daily coronavirus cases in the country’s virus hotspot dropped to a 10-week low.
Morrison mentioned the deal signed by the government with CSL for the manufacturing of two vaccines: one produced by rival AstraZeneca and Oxford University and another developed in CSL’s own labs with the University of Queensland.
“Australia needs some hope,” Morrison said. “Today, we take another significant step to protect the health of Australians against the coronavirus pandemic.”
Health Minister Greg Hunt noted that the scientists in charge of developing both vaccines have revealed that recent evidence shows both will offer “multi-year protection.”
Moreover, Morrison said CSL will provide 3.8 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is at the late-stage clinical trials in Britain, Brazil and South Africa, in January and February next year.
AstraZeneca’s candidate, AZD1222, is regarded as a frontrunner in the race to come up with an effective Covid-19 vaccine to kill the virus.
Morrison also mentioned Australia's plan to buy the CSL drug if trials became successful. The vaccine will start the second stage clinical trials in late 2020, meaning the earliest it could be available in the market would be mid-2021.
The cost of the vaccines, should they pass clinical trials, is A$1.7 billion ($1.24 billion) for a total of nearly 85 million doses, according to Morrison.
Coronavirus cases in Victoria
The deal came as Australia’s Victoria state reported 41 cases of Covid-19 have been identified in the past 24 hours, the lowest single-day increase since June 26.
Australia’s second-most populous state has experienced a second wave and now makes about 75% of the country’s 26,320 cases and 90% of its 762 deaths.
“We cannot open up at this time. If we were to we would lose control very quickly,” State Premier Daniel Andrews told a televised media conference on Sunday.
Melbourne’s stage 4 restrictions put economic activity to a halt and limited people’s movements for one hour a day and imposed a night-time curfew.
Due to the new wave of infections, the curfew will start an hour later at 9pm starting September 14. People can go outside for two hours instead of one, while those living alone can allow only one visitor.
“You’ve got to defeat the second wave and do it properly. Otherwise, you just begin the third wave. A third wave will mean we can’t do the economic repair that people desperately want us to do,” Andrews said.
“Today’s announcement from the Victorian government to extend lockdown arrangements will be hard and crushing news for the people of Victoria and a further reminder of the impact and costs that result from not being able to contain outbreaks of COVID-19,” Morrison said in a statement.
“We can’t continue to let business and jobs be decimated on the way to controlling the spread of the virus,” Victoria Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief Paul Guerra told reporters.
From September 28, if daily infection rates have fallen to between 30 and 50 for 14 days, child care, manufacturing plants, construction sites, and warehouses could go back to normal, allowing 101,000 employees to return to work.
