The nation’s COVID vaccine rollout will soon enter a new phase as approval for a third vaccine nears and hope swirls for plans to start vaccinating children.
A cornerstone of that level up will be the world-leading Moderna vaccine, which is believed to be gaining TGA approval within a fortnight – and to be delivered into arms across Australia not long after.
Health Minister Greg Hunt says state clinics and Commonwealth GPs are now achieving “magnificent” jab numbers, which he expects to soon rise to two million a week as larger quantities of Pfizer finally arrive.
“We can see that in the near doubling of vaccination rates from 700,000 a month and a half ago per week to almost 1.3 million over the last seven days,” Mr Hunt said on Sunday.
The federal government has long been counting down the days to big shipments of Pfizer in the final quarter of 2021, describing the final three months as a “sprint” to vaccinate the whole nation.
Moderna vaccine to debut in Australia
Less exact has been the timetable for the arrival of Moderna, another mRNA vaccine from the United States.
It has a reported 95 per cent efficacy rate against COVID, near-identical to Pfizer, and has vaccinated many millions of people in the US.
However, Australia did not place a Moderna order until May this year, with 10 million doses to arrive in 2021 and 15 million in 2022.
On Sunday, Mr Hunt confirmed Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration was expected to approve Moderna “within the next two weeks”, with expectations that one million doses will arrive from “the middle of September”.
That’s an increase on previous government supply ‘horizons’, which forecast some 500,000 Moderna doses arriving in September.
“We’re expecting a result, and the guidance from Professor John Skerritt, the head of the TGA, is within the next two weeks, if not earlier. And there are no red flags. There are only very positive signs about a highly effective vaccine,” Mr Hunt told Insiders on Sunday.
“Our expectation is that we’ll have the first million in September. probably more towards the middle of September, but we haven’t got final guidance.”
Federal vaccine co-ordinator Lieutenant-General John Frewen has previously said once more Pfizer and Moderna arrives, Australians may get a “choice” of which vaccine they want.
On Sunday, Mr Hunt said the government expected three million Moderna vaccine doses per month to arrive in Australia, for the last three months of the year.
That was on top of an expected two million Pfizer doses arriving each week in the final quarter.
The race heats up
Australia hit a record 240,039 doses of vaccine delivered on Thursday, on the back of New South Wales significantly boosting its distribution of AstraZeneca vaccines through pharmacies and state hubs, and widening supply through Victoria and Queensland.
On Sunday, Victoria announced a nation-first, drive-through vaccine clinic, while also expanding AstraZeneca access at state clinics.
The Prime Minister’s office pointed out that, on a per capita basis, Thursday’s 240,000 daily figure was higher than some of the peaks of the United Kingdom’s vaccine rollout.
Australia’s reopening roadmap requires 70 and 80 per cent vaccination rates of adults to reach Phase B and C, which would result in lockdown and quarantine rules being eased nationwide.
However, some epidemiologists and public health experts have raised alarm that children under 16 are currently not in line to receive vaccines.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is approved in Australia for those 18 and older.
Pfizer has been approved by the TGA for 12 and over, but is only being given out to people over 16.
Mr Hunt said that would change from Monday, with select groups of children – including the immunocompromised, those with underlying health conditions and Indigenous – being extended Pfizer jabs.
But Mr Hunt said it was “likely” the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) would widen Pfizer eligibility to all children over 12.
The minister said the TGA process for Moderna would also consider kids.
“The expectation, and this is in the hands of ATAGI, is that they are likely to provide a positive recommendation [for Pfizer]. If they do that, we’re ready to provide that,” Mr Hunt said.
“It is likely that that will be for all of the fourth quarter that these vaccines should be available for kids.”
He added that “school-based vaccination programs are planned with every state or territory”.
Greens leader Adam Bandt said last week it was “urgent” to vaccinate children, noting figures from Sydney’s outbreak showing 25 per cent of recent cases were aged under 20, and 45 per cent under 30.
“Delta is deadly and it’s hitting children and teenagers,” Mr Bandt said.
“Five thousand children and teenagers have already been infected with COVID here. Children and schools across the country have been hit in recent outbreaks. If we don’t include children in the vaccination targets and rollout, more people will get sick and more people will die.”
Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the ABC’s 7.30 last week “we’ve got to get the kids vaccinated because this is a very, very transmissible virus”.
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