Australia pins hopes on potential Oxford University Covid-19 vaccine
Drug trial: An engineer shows an experimental vaccine to treat COVID-19 tested at the quality control laboratory of Sinovac Biotech facilities in Beijing on April 29. (AFP/Nicolas Asfouri). Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.
CANBERRA, Aug 11, 2020, 9News. The Federal Government is positioning itself to secure and manufacture a COVID-19 vaccine in Australia, if a successful one is discovered, 9News reported.
Science and Industry Minister Karen Andrews said the Federal Government is currently “seeking input” from manufacturers.
“We’re certainly looking at what we can do to access any vaccine that is produced or manufactured overseas so Australians would be able to access that, but we’re also making sure that we are ramping up our manufacturing capacity here in Australia,” Ms Andrews said.
“But also to look at our capability to source and to produce things such as the glass vials, the packaging, everything that goes with the production of the vaccine.”
More than 100 vaccines are being developed across the globe and the government is eyeing two options, with one potential candidate from the University of Queensland and the other from Oxford University.
The Oxford candidate is in the advanced testing stage and a manufacturer in the United Kingdom is preparing to produce and deliver it, potentially by the end of the year.
Share it
| 
| 
| 
| 
|