Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

We also placed an order for over 50 million University of Queensland molecular clamp vaccines. That was not ultimately successful, but I think it was an important investment. We've also acquired enough for every Australian for the COVAX Facility. As well as that, there are 25 million Moderna vaccines. That approval, which the TGA has now completed and which I welcome, leads us to be able to deliver that vaccine commencing in the second half of September, subject to final confirmation of supply arrangements. But, on the advice that I had on the weekend, that remains the expected time frame for the first of those 10 million doses this year. Next year, of course, we have the 15 million additional doses of Moderna, and beyond that we also have 60 million doses of Pfizer. What does all of this mean? It means that Australia has a sufficient supply to deliver the opportunity for every Australian to be vaccinated during the course of this year, and to be vaccinated safely—to have that approval from the medical regulator.

There were those who were urging that these processes be skipped. There were those who were casting doubt on AstraZeneca during the course of this year.

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