IDT media thread, page-183

Australia moving quickly to enable onshore mRNA vaccine production, PM says

By Michaela Whitbourn

The federal government has unveiled plans to build a new Australian vaccine facility in a call for bids that puts global companies like CSL and Moderna in the running to develop a stronger domestic capacity against viruses, David Crowereports today.

Companies will have the next eight weeks to prepare their plans to manufacture vaccines in Australia based on the new messenger RNA science underpinning products from Pfizer and Moderna.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison earlier this week.CREDIT:WAYNE TAYLOR

“That will be done as a partnership between industry and government. The purpose of this will be not just to address the challenges we have with COVID-19, because the COVID-19 pandemic is raging and it will continue to rage, not just now, but it could be for years to come,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at a press conference in Tasmania this morning.

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“This is not to address any immediate vaccination issues, it is to create a capability not just for producing vaccines to deal with COVID.

“Eighteen months ago, apart from some trial treatments in HIV, this was largely science-fiction.

This is a very new, a very new science, and so we are moving quickly to establish that, not just for now, but for the long-term and many other vaccines that will be done through mRNA, not just COVID, so this is a long-term plan with short and medium term benefits.”

Mr Morrison said “we will find out exactly what is needed for those proponents to see those facilities being established”.

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