CANBERRA, Australia (Australia) – Australia said on Friday that it had reached an agreement to buy another 20 million doses of Pfizer vaccine as it quickly turned away from its previous plan to rely primarily on the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the deal hours after he said Australia would stop using the AstraZeneca vaccine for people under 50.
He said the deal meant Australia would receive a total of 40 million doses of Pfizer vaccine by the end of the year, enough to vaccinate 20 million people in the country of 26 million.
Australia’s pivot came after the European Medicines Agency this week said it had found a ‘possible link’ between the AstraZeneca vaccine and rare blood clots, although regulators in the UK and the European Union stressed that the benefits of receiving the vaccine still weighs heavier than the risks for most people.
Following the statement from the European Agency, Australian drug regulators held a series of urgent meetings on Thursday and recommended that the Pfizer vaccine become the preferred vaccine for people under 50.
Morrison said there is no ban on the AstraZeneca vaccine and the risk of side effects is very small. He said the change came from an abundance of caution.
The pivot point is a significant shift in Australia’s overall approach and is likely to delay plans to get everyone vaccinated by October.
A big part of Australia’s strategy was the ability to make own vaccines at home and not rely on shipments from abroad. It is planned to produce about 50 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, enough for 25 million people. Australia has no plans to make other vaccines at home.
Even before the change, the government had been criticized for a deployment program lagging behind that of most other developed countries. To date, Australia has administered just over 1 million vaccine doses.
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said the rollout was a debacle and that Australians needed certainty about when they would be vaccinated.
“This government has failed. “This government could not drive a choco vine against a back fence,” Albanians told reporters, referring to a plant that produces pear-shaped fruit and grows easily in the Australian climate.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said there would be adjustments, but all would be kept safe and vaccinated.
Australia has managed to eradicate the spread of the virus through the community so that life could continue as it did before the pandemic.
AstraZeneca noted that Australia’s decision to restrict the use of the vaccine was based on the fact that it had no community transfer.
“In general, regulatory agencies have reaffirmed that the vaccine provides a high level of protection against all seriousness of COVID-19 and that these benefits still outweigh the risks,” the company said in a statement.