Coronavirus: Calls to expand vaccine portfolio after government fails to secure Moderna

With Australia yet to strike a deal for the high-efficacy Moderna vaccine, health experts say urgent action is needed.

Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Health experts are calling for Australia to expand its suite of COVID-19 vaccines amid concern the federal government has not signed a contract for supply of the high-efficacy Moderna vaccine.

Australians are likely to have access to three probable COVID-19 vaccines during the coming year. Five million Australians will be given the Pfizer vaccine, while the AstraZeneca vaccine looks set to be available for most of the population. Later in the year, it’s expected that Australians will also have access to the Novavax protein-based vaccine.

The two vaccines that have so far proven to have the highest efficacy in clinical trials are the vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, both utilising mRNA technology.

However, Australia has been unable to reach agreement with Moderna over the supply of its vaccine. The reasons for the impasse have not been disclosed by the federal government. When pushed on the issue, Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly indicated Moderna had been unwilling to sign an agreement with Australia.

Epidemiologist Zoe Hyde from the University of Western Australia called for Australia to expand the number of vaccines in which it was investing.

“We need to urgently diversify our vaccine portfolio, and should start by acquiring the Moderna vaccine,” Dr Hyde said.

“Its absence from Australia’s strategy is puzzling. Like the Pfizer product, it’s a high efficacy vaccine but doesn’t have the same ultra-cold storage requirements. It can be stored in a standard freezer for up to six months, or in a refrigerator for 30 days.

“That means we can easily roll it out in regional and remote Australia. Canada is already using the Moderna vaccine in their remote Indigenous communities.”

Dr Hyde has been critical of Australia’s strategy of focusing on protection of the population from disease rather than the attainment of herd immunity.

“We should seriously consider using the Moderna vaccine in preference to the Oxford/AstraZeneca one,” she said. “Not only does it have superior efficacy, it’s a more reliable long-term option.

“It will prevent more disease, and has a better chance of delivering herd immunity, which should be our aim.”

“We also have to think about how we’re going to deal with the mutations emerging. We’re seeing the beginning of antigenic drift, which means it’s inevitable we’ll need to update the vaccines and get booster doses at some point.

“It’s simple to tweak mRNA vaccines like the Moderna and Pfizer ones, and we can easily give people a booster dose just like we do with the annual flu jab.

“With the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, it’s not so simple because people develop immunity to the vector and successive doses become less effective.

“Unless we want to mix vaccines, it would be better to pick ­options that we know we can use long-term, like Moderna, Pfizer, and Novavax if the trials are ­successful.”

Australian National University professor Shane Thomas also called for expansion in Australia’s vaccine portfolio. “In making arrangements for sourcing new vaccines, it is important to consider that many fail in the development and approval process,” he said.

“Given the high failure rate in vaccine development and then post-approval complications, the number of vaccines to which Australia currently has access is modest. I would say too modest.”

“We also have supply issues.”