Following official advice this week to limit AstraZeneca...

Following official advice this week to limit AstraZeneca Covid-19 jabs to over-60s, states have been scrambling to get their rollout schedules back on track, prompting concerns over vaccine supplies.

Australia’s expert immunisation panel has recommended a Pfizer shot for people younger than 60 after seven new cases of an extremely rare blood clot emerged in AstraZeneca patients aged 50 to 59.

This has increased pressure on the federal government to fast-track plans for a facility capable of producing enough mRNA-type vaccines to cover the population over the next year.

A Thebarton plant, which international biotech company BioCina bought from Pfizer, already has regulatory approvals to produce biomedical products for human use and a skilled workforce but needs $90m to reconfigure it.

BioCina, with Adelaide University and the SA Health and Medical Research Institute, will bid for a commonwealth tender that closes next month. Both the Pfizer and Moderna jabs are an mRNA type.

Mr Marshall said the Thebarton plant was “well-placed” as the country’s only Therapeutic Goods Administration-approved facility.

“We have a very productive relationship with the federal government and continue to have extensive discussions regarding BioCina’s potential,” he said.

“This puts us in an excellent position in regards to potential ongoing local manufacture of mNRA.”

Mr Marshall said the latest Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation advice “shows the importance of developing mRNA manufacture in Australia”.

Sources say Mr Marshall has also “lobbied hard” Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Health Minister Greg Hunt on the merits of an Adelaide plant.

Adelaide University deputy vice-chancellor Anton Middelberg said changing vaccine advice proved a “pressing need” for local manufacturing.

“We could be manufacturing mRNA vaccine in Adelaide more quickly than anywhere else in the country,” he said. Mr Morrison, who is in quarantine after his European trip, has called an urgent national cabinet meeting on Monday as authorities concede daily vaccination rates will likely fall as “informed” people alter appointments.

SA Health data shows it has 41,385 AstraZeneca vials stockpiled, along with 73,460 Pfizer doses.

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Federal figures show nearly 30 per cent of SA adults have at least one Covid vaccine dose but fewer than one in five are full immunised with two jabs. SA Health wants at least 80 per cent inoculated by October.

Chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier said people older than 60 “are more likely to have serious disease with Covid-19” and the benefits of having a shot “outweigh any vaccine risk”.