(Image: AAP/POOL/David Caird)
Despite claims about foreign governments and bad luck, it s clear that the vaccination rollout debacle was very much made within the Morrison government. It was the government that failed to plan for the predicted outbreaks of vaccine nationalism, and the government that placed too much reliance on a single vaccine.
That adds to the two other major pandemic-related failures by the Morrison government the expensive and useless COVIDSafe app, and the failure to protect aged care residents in Victoria.
On the economic front, the government has been far more successful: JobKeeper worked very well (although profitable corporations have been allowed to keep billions of dollars in unmerited taxpayer support) while the HomeBuilder program kept the construction industry going.
Share on Twitter
As AstraZeneca is no longer the preferred vaccine for Australian adults under 50, attention is turning to what other COVID-19 vaccine options are in our arsenal.
The federal government has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which will become the mainstay of the rollout, while AstraZeneca will continue to be administered for people over 50 in the current phase 1B.
But Australia does have a deal for a third vaccine, by US biotech company Novavax.
The government has ordered 51 million doses of this vaccine, though it’s yet to be approved by Australia’s drug regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), which is expected to make a decision in the third quarter of the year.
The news comes after
Greg Hunt announced the government will not purchase the Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine out of concern it carries similarly rare but severe blood clotting risks, with
Guardian Australia noting that US health agencies have officially recommended states pause administration of the drug.
Unfortunately the global production target for Australia’s third option, Novavax, has been pushed back until the third quarter of 2021 due to supply shortages. Although clinical trials for the drug are still underway, the ABC explains that Australia has an agreement for 51 million doses originally slated for “mid-2021, at which point executives had said full-scale vaccine production could be achieved”.
There will be vaccines, we believe, to get that happening, he told reporters in Perth.
The federal government is facing criticism over its decision to dump a vaccine rollout timetable after falling short of its initial targets.
Mr Morrison attributed the delays to three million doses failing to arrive from Europe and medical advice for people under 50 to avoid the AstraZeneca jab.
READ MORE
The role of pharmacists in the rollout is also being reconsidered after the recommendations about AstraZeneca threw the program into chaos.
The government is attempting to complete vaccinations for the most vulnerable people by the middle of the year.