Oxford University coronavirus vaccine: Australia in talks to secure doses
The Federal Government has called on companies to ramp up operations to help produce a COVID-19 vaccine locally, as Australia moves to secure a treatment that could be available before Christmas.
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Australian manufacturers who can pivot or scale up their operations are being sought to help contribute to the production of a future vaccine or treatments for COVID-19 locally.
The Federal Government has issued a call out to companies across the country to determine how much production and distribution of the drugs could be done locally once an effective vaccine candidate is found.
Industry, Science and Technology Minister Karen Andrews said the request for information was an early stage of the preparations to produce a vaccine.
“Australian scientists are at the heart of the global quest for a vaccine and we want to make sure Australian manufacturers are central to the production if and when that vaccine is found,” she said.
“Australia already has impressive capability when it comes to producing vaccines, which as a government we are well aware of.
“This request for information is about identifying more niche manufacturers, including those who may be able to pivot or have the capability to scale up their operations with the right support.”
Ms Andrews said it was “unclear” at this stage what form a vaccine or treatment might take so the government wanted to ensure it had “all our bases covered”.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said it was not a request for tender, but for manufacturers to tell the government “what they can do”.
“Life will not fully return to normal until we have a vaccine or effective treatment, so it’s essential we’re as prepared as we possibly can be,” he said.
The closing date for submissions is 20 August 2020.
CORONAVIRUS VACCINE COULD BE HERE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Exclusive: Australia is in advanced talks to secure Oxford University’s coronavirus vaccine which could be delivered before Christmas.
The hotly anticipated vaccine is due to be manufactured next month at a plant in north Wales and already has orders for 400 million doses across the world.
The British government has reserved a section of Wockhardt’s plant in Wrexham, about four hours’ drive north of the capital Cardiff, for 18 months.
Wockhardt managing director Ravi Limaye, said he hoped to deliver doses of the Oxford vaccine “very soon.”
“The industry is working, as you know at unprecedented speed, everything going well we expect to start delivering the first dose very soon, maybe even before Christmas,” he said.
The Wrexham facility was undergoing validation trials to prepare for the vaccine when News Corp Australia visited last week.
WATCH THE EXCLUSIVE VIDEO ABOVE.
The A-Grade medical manufacturing facility, inside the sprawling medical manufacturing plant, is about the size of an Australian living room.
But it will be able to produce up to 400 vials a minute, or 40 million per year, of Oxford University’s promising vaccine candidate from September.
The vaccine will be delivered in bulk to the factory and then processed into five millilitre glass vials to be distributed by the UK’s National Health Service.
“We started the process at the end of February the last two or three months we have been working extremely hard to get this facility up and running to be ready for the finish of the vaccine,” Mr Limaye said.
“The validation process will start any time now. We expect complete validation in August and September and after that, everything going well we would start manufacturing the vials of the vaccine,” he said.
“With regulatory approvals as soon as possible, the vials will be available for immunisation for people.”
A sign out the front of the plant was advertising for staff, as the company prepares to ramp up production.
Workers at the plant were happy and proud to be a part of the work that could save lives and end lockdowns that have cost the world’s economy billions of dollars and cost millions of jobs.
A report published in The Lancet in July showed that the Oxford vaccine candidate, a chimpanzee adenovirus which has the chemical name of ChAdOx1, was successful in a trial of 1,077 people.
Results showed that it caused a T-cell response, which blood cells that attack the COVID-19 virus, within 14 days and an antibody response, which can neutralise the virus, within 28 days.
The vaccine, which was tested on animals at an Australian CSIRO laboratory in Geelong, Victoria, was now in advanced stage 3 trials in South Africa and Brazil of 5000 people each, along with a United States trial of 30,000 people.
Australian health authorities were also in discussions with other potential vaccines, it was understood.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said after The Lancet report in late July that he was confident there would be a coronavirus vaccine.
“I now believe we are close to a vaccine and I am confident that if that happens – knowing there is still no certainty – that we will be in a position to provide vaccines for all Australians,” he said at the time.
stephen.drill@news.co.uk