Coronavirus Australia: Australia bought 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine last week

One of the vaccine candidates that could soon be rolled out to Australians has had a major success in the latest phase of human trials.

Australia announced it had bought 10 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine last week.

At the announcement, Dr Brendan Murphy, who served as Australia’s chief medical officer through the peak of the pandemic, told reporters the vaccine was a “very exciting technology” and would be produced overseas.

Australia does not have the production capability to produce the type of vaccine – especially 10 million doses of it – onshore, Dr Murphy said.

“MRNA vaccines are very different technology and we don’t have that production capability, certainly not at a commercial scale in Australia,” Dr Murphy said.

“So the decision, as part of the diversified strategy, we thought 10 million of this vaccine would be a good first option.

“If this turns out to be the most successful vaccine, obviously there’s a capacity to buy more. And there is the capacity, we are exploring the potential, of whether we could set up local manufacturing, but that isn’t a prospect at the moment. It’s something we have been looked at.

“As the Prime Minister said, we are continually being nimble about our approach to vaccines so we’re looking at all options of purchase, all options of manufacturing, but this gives us the best diversified position at the moment.”

Pfizer vaccine gives world ‘light at the end of the tunnel’

There is growing excitement around the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine after results from human trials revealed it was 90 per cent effective.

Pfizer CEO Dr Albert Bourla said it was a “great day”.

“It is a great day for science, it is a great day for humanity,” Dr Bourla said.

“You understand that the hopes of millions of people and millions of businesses and hundreds of governments that were felt on our shoulders. Now we can credibly tell them, ‘I think we can see light at the end of the tunnel’.”

We are reaching this critical milestone at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen.

— AlbertBourla (@AlbertBourla) November 9, 2020

Sanjaya Senanayake, Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases at the ANU, told Sunrise he was waiting to see the final analysis of the vaccine but “any news is good news”.

“Many of us were thinking that if we had a good COVID-19 vaccine then it would be about 55 to 60 per cent effective. 90 per cent is great,” he said.

“We need to also see that data in a medical peer- reviewed journal to really analyse it closely… And of course, even if it holds up now, will it still hold up in six months or 12 months? We will never know that until that time and those milestones pass.”

According to preliminary findings, protection in patients was achieved seven days after the second of two vaccine doses, and 28 days after the first.

Outgoing President Donald Trump, heavily criticised for his handling of the health crisis, described the breakthrough as “great news,” while top US pandemic expert Anthony Fauci said the result was “extraordinary.”