Funding for immediate, large-scale manufacture of mRNA vaccines such as those made by Pfizer and Moderna should be a priority in the budget, according to experts who have closely followed the course of COVID-19 in Australia.

To achieve optimum pandemic control, they would also welcome policy support to decouple science and public health from politics, implement proportionate risk management and fund quarantine facilities built to a high national standard that can be scaled up and are near medical facilities.