Canada has just placed a new order for over a hundred million Moderna doses. Scheduled for delivery over a period all the way out to 2024. A Moderna factory will be built in Canada, expected to be complete and operational in 2024. The order is 40 million doses plus options for 65 million more. Canada had previously ordered/optioned 400 million doses of a range of vaccines, for a country of just over 35 million people.
The Canadian mRNA production facility is to be operational in 2024, at least they think annual vaccinations/boosters are going to be a thing for quite a while yet. Australia has ordered 65m Pfizer/Moderna, 50m AstraZeneca and 50m Novovax. On a per head basis, Australia lags behind Canada by almost 200m doses.
There is no point Australia buying/making more AstraZeneca, no one wants it. The government is going to have to pay for more Moderna and Pfizer, the sooner more orders are placed the better.
The 2021 Australian commonwealth budget included an undisclosed amount for the first Australian mRNA production facility. Spend whatever it takes, $0.5m to $1b, and start building it now. Don't give it to CSL to be involved in, they already bet the farm on Astrazeneca, we need new people and new thinking.
