Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has reportedly secured access to a "promising" potential coronavirus vaccine, and has plans to manufacture it and offer free doses to the entire country's population.?
PM Morrison said that he has reached a deal with Swedish-British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to receive the COVID-19 vaccine it is developing with Oxford University.?
He was quoted as saying,?"The Oxford vaccine is one of the most advanced and promising in the world, and under this deal we have secured early access for every Australian.?If this vaccine proves successful we will manufacture and supply vaccines straight away under our own steam and make it free for 25 million Australians."
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The Oxford vaccine is in Phase 3 efficacy trials; researchers are aiming to have fruitful results by the end of 2020.?
Morrison also added that the country was in touch with "many parties around the world" over other potential vaccines along with supporting their local scientists in curbing the novel coronavirus. This is the first time Australia has made such a deal.?
However, reports add that the Australian government still hasn't reached a final agreement with AstraZeneca regarding the cost of the vaccine. Also, a local manufacturer has not been decided upon.?
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Other than that, Australia has signed a $25 million agreement with American medical technology company Becton Dickinson to buy 100 million needles and syringes for the doses.?
Prime Minister Morrison also said that the government is "committed" to making sure that Pacific countries and regional partners in Southeast Asia have early access to the potential vaccine.
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He had expressed his opinion that if a country was to come up with a potential vaccine, making it globally available was the right thing to do otherwise they "would be judged terribly by history".