As part of the deal, Moderna has also agreed to run clinical trials in Australia, committed to ongoing research and development onshore and will base its Asia-Pacific head office in Melbourne.
The Commonwealth is also investing up to $25 million from 2022 to 2023 for mRNA clinical trial grants to support local research and innovation.
Mr Morrison said Commonwealth investments in the Medical Research Future Fund, the modern manufacturing initiative and tax incentives around research and development had helped put Victoria on the medical research map.
“Melbourne is now rightly known as a global leader in medical research and so it was the natural location for the new mRNA facility with an established workforce with the right skills and investment,” he said.
Moderna Australia and New Zealand general manager Michael Azrak said the company was proud to be at the forefront of mRNA vaccine development.
“We look forward to finalising agreements and starting work to develop onshore respiratory mRNA vaccine manufacturing capability here in Australia,” he said.
The Commonwealth had been in talks with Moderna for months. The deal also ends the federal government’s earlier call for separate proposals to build mRNA manufacturing centreslocally.
The Victorian deal is a blow to the NSW government, which hadrecently been wooing Modernawith offers of tens of millions of dollars to set up a manufacturing facility in Sydney.
Both the Victorian and NSW state governments committed millions in funding for such facilities earlier this year, with Victoria putting $50 million on the table and NSW committing $96 million.
Once Australia’s facility is built, it will be the largest producer of mRNA vaccines in the region.
There are currently no mRNA manufacturing facilities in the Asia-Pacific region. Singapore announced a deal in May to manufacture millions of doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine but their facility is yet to be completed.
Labor’s industry spokesman, Ed Husic, has previously criticised the federal government for being slow on mRNA vaccine manufacturing.
“Three different ministers in charge of mRNA development in this country and they’ve achieved little other than forking out $6 million in fees to consultants,”he said in October.
“For the health of the nation and our economy, we need Scott Morrison to get his act together on manufacturing mRNA vaccines like he said he would.”
