Coronavirus: Queue-jumpers may be able to buy vaccine privately
Australians could skip the federal government’s distribution queue to purchase a COVID-19 vaccine.
Australians could skip the federal government’s distribution queue to purchase a COVID-19 vaccine, such as the frontrunning Pfizer-BioNTech candidate, which will initially only cover five million people.
The Morrison government has signed four purchase agreements, worth $3.2bn, but pharmaceutical companies will be free to make approved vaccines available for private sale.
Industry sources believe frequent travellers and those likely to be classed as lower priority for immunisation, such as the young and healthy, could be a source of profit for companies that have invested heavily in research and new production scale.
On Thursday, the Morrison government announced it had struck a deal with Pfizer for 10 million doses of its mRNA-based vaccine. Pfizer is planning to deliver 1.3 billion doses globally by the end of next year.
Australia has supply agreements for 124.8 million doses of three other vaccines, developed by Oxford University-AstraZeneca, the University of Queensland-CSL and Novavax, which are due over the next year, pending clinical success and regulatory approvals.
A spokesman for the federal Health Department told The Australian: “Decisions to make any vaccine available privately are for the sponsoring company, noting all vaccines need to be registered by the Therapeutic Goods Administration before they can be supplied in Australia.
“The Australian government is committed to providing COVID-19 vaccines at no cost to patients. The government does not intend to on-sell to private providers within Australia”.
Only AstraZeneca and Pfizer have sought a provisional determination from the TGA, the first step towards registration.
The director of Oxford University’s Health Economics Research Centre, Philip Clarke, said the first question that needed to be asked of government and “pharma” around the world is whether citizens would be able to buy the vaccine privately to get faster access. “While this is the case with most pharmaceuticals, there are arguments for everyone being subject to the same rights of access, a little like wartime rationing,” Professor Clarke said.
Pfizer chairman Albert Bourla has said the idea that companies should not make a profit in fighting COVID-19 was “very wrong”.
Asked about private supply, a Pfizer spokeswoman said that “decisions on further access have not been made”.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said a vaccine rollout would likely begin in March with the vulnerable, elderly and health workers first in line. A shipment from overseas of 3.8 million doses of the Oxford vaccine is likely to arrive here early next year.
An AstraZeneca spokeswoman said it “has made a global commitment to ensure broad and equitable access to the potential vaccine at no profit during the pandemic”.
The deal for 40 million doses of the Novavax candidate includes an option for a further 10 million doses.
“Novavax’s first priority is ensuring the delivery of a safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19, to meet one of the most pressing healthcare crises of our lifetime,” a spokeswoman said.
“To date Novavax has focused on advancing the vaccine as quickly as possible and working with all of our government, non-profit and commercial partners to ensure equitable access throughout the globe”.
A CSL spokeswoman said: “Our focus remains the safe and effective manufacture of vaccines that can be made widely available to populations in need during this pandemic.
“There’s a long way to go and we don’t yet know whether the vaccines will be successful.”