Moderna vaccine set to be available Australian by September

The drug regulator is set to approve the Moderna jab within a fortnight, providing Australians with a third Covid vaccine option within weeks.

Australians will have a third vaccine option within weeks, with the country’s drug regulator set to approve the Mod­erna jab within a fortnight.

Senior government sources say the Therapeutic Goods Administration, which licences drugs for the Australian market, is on track to approve Moderna within two weeks, possibly as early as next week.

Registered nurse Frederick Morley loads syringes with the Modern vaccine in the US. Picture/ AFP

The move is likely to coin­cide with approval of the Pfizer vaccine for the children between the ages of 12 and 15 by the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI).

ATAGI has approved Pfizer’s use for children that age with underlying health conditions but is yet to approve its use for others.

In addition to the million Moderna doses set to arrive in Australia in September, the country will receive 3 million more each month in October, November and December.

Health and Aged Care Minister Greg Hunt said more than 200,000 vaccinations had been delivered over each of the past five days.

“What we do know is that the capacity is now fully established to deliver over two million doses per week of AZ plus Pfizer and Moderna, as supplies become available,” he said.

“As the Pfizer numbers grow from one to two million per week, and as Moderna grows to 700,000 per week, we will be able to deliver well over two million doses per week if there is demand.”

Mr Hunt said vaccine intention was going up and hesitancy was going down.

“The intention to vaccinate has gone from 67 per cent about three months ago to 70 a month ago to 77 per cent now, with 13 per cent considering it and 10 per cent not intending,” he said.

The news comes as the government is poised to announce it has secured nearly 8000 doses of a drug that has been shown to dramatically reduce hospitalisation and death among unvaccinated Covid patients.

Sotrovimab, a monoclonal antibody treatment, can be used for the treatment of coronavirus patients with mild symptoms who do not require supplemental oxygen, but who are at high risk of developing severe cases of Covid-19.

Former deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth said the treatment was useful for people who were not vaccin­ated and who had a high risk of getting very sick.

“This drug is likely to help relieve the pressure on hospitals and people who haven’t been vaccinated as we get to our (vaccination) targets,” he said.

“There would be no point in giving this to people who have been vaccinated because their immune system already recognises the virus.”

Dr Coatsworth said the decision over who would get it would be based on a risk profile.

The TGA and medical experts will come up with guidelines for its use, who over the next week.

The drug is administered intravenously but can be given in a patient’s home.