The local head of pharmaceutical giant Moderna has promised Australia will be at the top of the vaccine queue during future pandemics after a new mRNA vaccine facility was opened in Melbourne today.
At a ceremony this morning, federal Health Minister Mark Butler and Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan touted state and federal government funding that helped build the Clayton factory, which will produce up to 100 million vaccine doses each year.
Jabs to protect against COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) will roll off the production line in 2025. Moderna also hopes to produce combined jabs to protect against the flu and COVID-19 within two years.
Moderna’s Australia and New Zealand general manager Michael Azrak told reporters: “Once we’ve started supply in Australia, Australia is our first priority.”
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The sole mRNA production plant in the southern hemisphere will also be home to research and surveillance work focused on potential threats that could emerge from neighbouring areas, such as South-East Asia.
Butler said the new plant would help Australia become less dependent on imported mRNA vaccines during a pandemic.
“We’ll be less vulnerable to supply disruptions or delays caused by global events, a resurgence of COVID-19 infections, or indeed, a new, different pandemic,” he said.
Earlier this year, building work started on fellow global pharmaceutical giant BioNTech’s mRNA facility in Bundoora in Melbourne’s north.
Allan said Melbourne’s position as a global biotech leader had been cemented along with London in the UK and Boston in the US.
“Melbourne and Victoria will be the only place in the world where the two global leaders in mRNA [research and development] and manufacturing operate from the one city,” she said.
The deal between Moderna, and the state and federal governments was inked while Coalition prime minister Scott Morrison was in power and the agreement is reportedly worth $2 billion. However, Allan declined to give details today, citing commercial in confidence reasons.
AAP
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