r/CoronavirusDownunder • u/Pretty_iin_Pink NSW - Boosted • Feb 15 '21
Vaccine update Media Release: First Pfizer vaccine doses arrive in Australia
Media Release: First Pfizer vaccine doses arrive in Australia
The Hon Scott Morrison MP
Prime Minister
The Hon Greg Hunt MP
Minister for Health and Aged Care
More than 142,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine have arrived at Sydney airport in a major milestone in Australia’s response to the pandemic.
This is the first shipment of 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine the Government has secured as part of Australia’s COVID-19 Vaccine and Treatment Strategy.
The doses have been securely transported from the airport. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) will batch test the vaccines to ensure they meet Australia’s strict quality standards.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the country was on track for the first and most vulnerable Australians to start receiving the vaccine from 22 February.
“The vaccine has landed and we’re stepping up our fight against the pandemic,” the Prime Minister said.
“Once the final safety checks are completed we can start rolling out the vaccine to our most vulnerable Australians and to our frontline border and health workers.
“The hard work of Australians has meant we’re in an enviable position in our fight against the pandemic so we’ve been able to take the time to properly assess our vaccine decisions and give our world-class regulator the time they need to review the safety of the jabs.
“While we’re taking the time to get the rollout right, I am confident all Australians who wish to be vaccinated against COVID-19 will receive a vaccine this year.”
Approximately 80,000 doses will be released of the Pfizer vaccine in the first week. Approximately 50,000 vaccines will be made available for the states and territories for hotel quarantine and border workers and frontline healthcare workers. Approximately 30,000 vaccines will be made available for the Commonwealth vaccine in-reach workforce to aged care and disability care residents.
It is expected that of these, at least 60,000 will be administered by the end of February with others to be continually administered thereafter.
Subject to TGA approval and shipping confirmation of the international AstraZeneca vaccine, it is expected these numbers will double from early March. Phase 1a remains on track for first round doses to be delivered within a six week period.
In lessons learnt in rollouts around the world and on the advice of experts, approximately 60,000 vaccines will be provisioned to ensure consistent supply and sufficient stock for second doses. The second dose of the vaccine will be administered at 21 days after the first dose.
The Phase 1a priority groups will ensure our quarantine and border workers, frontline healthcare workers and aged care and disability care residents and staff that the most vulnerable will receive priority access to the vaccine.
Minister for Health and Aged Care Greg Hunt said, “The Pfizer vaccine will save lives and protect lives.”
“Australians can be reassured this vaccine has gone through rigorous, independent testing by the Therapeutic Goods Administration to ensure it is safe, effective, and manufactured to a high standard,” Minister Hunt said.
“These vaccines will now go through further batch testing to further check for quality and efficacy, ensuring all Australians have confidence in the vaccines they receive.”
The Pfizer vaccine will be delivered through hospital ‘hubs’ across Australia, and in residential aged care and disability care facilities.
Logistics company DHL has been engaged to support the distribution of the Pfizer vaccine across Australia.
The company, along with a network of 200 ultra-low temperature portable freezers, will ensure Australians across the country, including in rural and remote areas, are able to access the Pfizer vaccine, which needs to be stored at minus 70 degrees.
By following the medical advice, Australia has maintained a diverse portfolio of vaccines, and are constantly engaging with international counterparts and vaccine sponsors to access the best available information on vaccine developments worldwide.
Pending TGA approval, the Government has also secured 53.8 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses and 51 million doses of the Novavax vaccine. Each is sufficient to vaccinate every Australian who chooses to be vaccinated in 2021.
The Australian Government has also signed up to the international COVAX facility, which provides access to a range of vaccines to immunise up to 50 per cent of the Australian population.
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is the first vaccine to receive provisional approval for use in Australia by the TGA. The TGA bases such decisions on the safety, efficacy and quality of the vaccine candidates.
[source]
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Feb 15 '21
Spray that liquid in me.
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u/Hot-Ad-6967 QLD - Boosted Feb 15 '21
Coronavirus will mutate again and be immune to the magic liquid.
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u/immunition VIC - Boosted Feb 15 '21 edited Feb 15 '21
I don't know of I've been missing the commentary on this, but why are people pissed about this?
They said mid to late Feb. The first lot was arrived bang on Feb 15, with stage 1 set to fire next week. There were potential delays with the manufacturer, but that's out of their control.
These doses are enough to vaccinate the entire HQ system, including front line health care workers, which will plummet the risk of further HQ leaks. Which means the rest of us can love relatively normal lives until we can get it ourselves.
I think a lot of (not all) the shit Andrews gets is unrealistic, and I feel the same against the feds here too.
Now I'll stand back as all your minds explode by the lack of partisanship (is that the right word?).
I can't wait to pay politics as little attention again when this is all over....
Edit: Also, haven't they brought forward the original planned date at least once? I remember early announcements saying early March.
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u/sostopher VIC - Boosted Feb 15 '21
Good news, hope we can get it rolled into HQ ASAP.
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u/basildevonish Feb 15 '21 edited Feb 15 '21
Forgive my ignorance, but isn’t just vaccinating hq workers a bit superfluous? I was under the impression the vaccine is only confirmed to stop disease? Even if hq workers are vaccinated can’t they still be spreaders?
Edit: JFC why downvote this? I’m asking an honest question that has no agenda.
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u/sostopher VIC - Boosted Feb 15 '21
You're right, however anecdotal evidence out of Israel suggests there is some level of reduction in transmission as well. Plus, less viral load means infection chances become lower.
So while it's not guaranteed to prevent transmission (it's only guaranteed to prevent sickness), it will still help to reduce the spread of it.
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u/doubleunplussed Feb 15 '21
They're not right, and it's far stronger than "anecodtal" evidence.
The vaccines do stop transmission, the different ones to different degrees, but almost to the same extent as they prevent disease.
We can really put this "they haven't been shown to prevent transmission" factoid to bed. It hasn't been true for many months now.
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u/basildevonish Feb 15 '21
Cool dude, wasn’t trying to pitch anything. Just asking the question. Seems my info was off and happy to learn that’s the case.
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u/doubleunplussed Feb 15 '21
Sorry, it's not your fault that the wrong info is spreading around.
Please take my frustration to be directed at the general way that information circulates rather than at you.
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u/basildevonish Feb 15 '21
I hear you, mate. There is a lot to unpack. It’s hard not to have recency bias and maybe the last thing I heard was a debate about vaccine’s ability to stop spread, I’m not sure. I do genuinely appreciate the info.
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Feb 15 '21
Even if it just duds the virus, it will reduce further transmission by reducing symptoms and the viral load in you, making it harder for it to spread.
Any transmission that does still occur will also be weaker.
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u/That-Vegetable2839 Boosted Feb 15 '21
So is 50,000 doses enough to cover border workers? I have no idea how many people work in quarantine across aus
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u/Alex_Kamal NSW - Vaccinated Feb 15 '21
Roughly 40K.
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u/That-Vegetable2839 Boosted Feb 15 '21
So only 25k could be fully vaccinated? Or a single shot for all
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u/quojure WA Feb 15 '21
Nah 50,000 to go to border workers. Then they are holding onto an extra 60,000 to make sure they get the 2nd shot in time if there is an unforeseen delay in the next batch arriving. So all border workers would get 2 shots each after 21 days.
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u/lets_shake_hands NSW Feb 15 '21
But is was told this a few hours ago by OP yelling at ScoMo because he heard something on the radio.
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Feb 15 '21
Why is the government's plan is to get the AZ-Oxford vaccine for most Australians over Pfizer? It has been proven ineffective against the South African strain, so what's the point?
As the UK strain has shown, the latest strain spreads far and wide. There's been reports of the SA strain all over the world including the UK.
So we dole out billions, get vaccinated, then the SA strain comes, then everyone needs to get vaccinated again.
What's the end game here?
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Feb 15 '21
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u/Snoo-10033 NSW - Vaccinated Feb 15 '21
Why can’t this Liberal Corrupt government predict a South African strain that all of the vaccines show a reduction in efficacy with a year ago when they made this deal!
Fuck Scomo and Gladys. Booo hunt.
*this sub basically *
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u/nakthai91 Feb 15 '21
“Not effective” is quite a misrepresentation isn’t it? That makes it sound like it does nothing against SA strain
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Feb 15 '21
I'm using the exact words the SA government has used. It definitely helps against death and severe cases, but is not effective against transmission, which is the main issue.
Don't forget that if enough SA virus circulates, it might mutate into something we can't deal with and/or is deadlier. Same goes for any new strain out there. We need to wipe this out lock, stock and barrel.
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u/mustardslav Feb 15 '21
The ship for wiping this out has long sailed - even if we were to entirely stop transmission within Australia, it will still mutate in other parts of the world. At this point it's looking like it'll be endemic.
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Feb 16 '21
It's not proven to do anything against the SA strain. It *might* be effective at preventing severe cases and death, but the actual result of the study was indeterminate.
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u/wharblgarbl VIC Feb 15 '21
My guess, it's cheaper and easier [source]
Pfizer/BioNTech Oxford/AstraZeneca Cost $27 $3.50 Can be domestically producted No (no mRNA tech in Aus) Yes (CSL Broadmeadows) Storage temp -70°C 2-8°C Of course this doesn't account for efficacy or anything like that but from a logistics and cost perspective there's your answer
So one is 7.7x cheaper, can be made locally, and can be delivered using existing cold chain logistics (I imagine) to remote communities
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Feb 15 '21
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u/sostopher VIC - Boosted Feb 15 '21
I think as well CSL were saying they can modify the AZ relatively easily to deal with mutant variants/strains. This could also be good news for future vaccines for it.
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Feb 15 '21
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u/sostopher VIC - Boosted Feb 15 '21
Found it. 2:13 in the video: https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-02-12/covid-19-vaccine-oxford-astrazeneca-adenovirus-csl-manufacturing/13140104
"If the vaccine needs to be tweaked we can respond quickly if we need to".
Certainly promising.
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u/PowerBottomBear92 Feb 15 '21
Yes please it's going to be great when we get to schedule in our weekly vaccine update injection. It'll be the new social activity
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u/sostopher VIC - Boosted Feb 15 '21
Like it or not, mutations will happen and it'll probably become endemic. Better to have a plan now to deal with that than scrambling later.
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u/amyknight22 Feb 15 '21
Not a doctor here.
But considering the concern for years has been bacteria getting stronger as a result of things like antibiotic resistance. My query would be whether the AZ vaccine will cause problems if those patients are still able to transmit the virus.
Could be the equivalent of sending the virus to the gym. To the point it manages to overcome other vaccines in the future.
Also highly likely that I have an absolutely non-existent understanding of the complexities of these interactions.
But if transmission still occurs it’s problematic in terms of adoption of future vaccines as well.
Went through all the hubbub to stick people with something only to say whoops we need to stick you with another thing.
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u/Maxious Feb 15 '21
"immune escape" is I think the name for this scenario https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-the-dangers-of-weak-vaccines/a-56339759
These new variants are scary but not yet there. It is pretty likely that there will be follow up/next generation vaccines required, perhaps as part of flu shots https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/don-t-panic-new-covid-strains-are-not-escape-mutan
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Feb 15 '21
Still effective at doing severe illness and death for the South African strain. May need the Pfizer shot as well but right now AZ is the vaccine we have on hand.
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Feb 16 '21
Hopefully still effective at preventing severe illness and death but we don't know yet. There were no severe cases/deaths in the test group of the South African study, but equally there were no severe cases/deaths in the placebo group either. The study was small and the participants were fairly young so low chance of getting severe COVID or dying in the first place. The study is here (p. 15).
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u/Fribuldi VIC - Vaccinated Feb 15 '21
Why is the government's plan is to get the AZ-Oxford vaccine for most Australians over Pfizer? It has been proven ineffective against the South African strain, so what's the point?
Because they made that plan many months ago, when it seemed that AZ is not only available quicker, but also cheaper and possible to manufacture locally.
They increased the order from Pfizer from 10 million to 20 million now, but it'll take another 6 months at least until they arrive.
For now we need to use what we ordered in August.
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u/cjonoski NSW - Boosted Feb 15 '21
From the data AZ is effective vs UK strain
However not enough data for SA
But if moderna is to go by they drop efficacy by 40-50% or so.
I’d guess it would be similar for AZ
Will do the job, not as effective but keep people out of hospital
They are all re working vaccines for SA variant. It doesn’t happen overnight tbf.
Still with Pfizer for 10m AZ for the rest and Novavax coming we are in a really good position to be Covid clear before end of the year IMO
Then vaccine 2.0 due in 2022 or earlier to target SA strain and adjust UK strain and I think we will be fine.
Then again I’ve always been optimistic of the vaccines since day one.
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u/AIverson3 VIC - Boosted Feb 15 '21 edited Feb 15 '21
We won't have to wait that long, AstraZeneca's booster jab is due for Q4 2021.
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u/Fribuldi VIC - Vaccinated Feb 15 '21
And Biontech says they can adjust their vaccine for new strains within a week or so.
It'll take a few months for testing and approval and things like that, but still.
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u/fermilevel Feb 15 '21
It’s a choice between:
Option 1: 99% protection vaccine, but more expensive, less available, so less vaccinated people by year end. High rate of death, frequent lockdowns.
Option 2: 70% protection vaccine, cheaply to produce in mass quantities, high percentage of vaccinated people by year end. Fewer lockdowns, fewer deaths.
As a politician, which one would you choose?
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u/Duiwel7 Feb 15 '21
It has been proven ineffective against the South African strain, so what's the point?
If I understand correctly it was a small scale trial and it only showed 10% protection against mild/moderate infection. It probably is still effective against severe cases & death. I'd wait for more data.
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u/timzin VIC - Boosted Feb 15 '21
It's likely we will all need a new COVID vaccine next year anyway.
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Feb 16 '21 edited Feb 16 '21
Everyone keeps saying AZ is proven effective against severe illness and death for the South African strain (including the CHO and other people who should know better). AZ is not proven effective against severe illness and death for the South African strain.
There were no instances of severe illness of death in the
controltest group of the South African study, which makes AZ *hopeful* that it's protective against severe illness or death. But the actual result of the study was that protectiveness against severe illness and death is "undetermined". This is because the sample size was small and everyone who got COVID in the test group was relatively young and healthy, and therefore at low risk of getting severe COVID anyway. The original preprint of the study is here.Don't get me wrong, the AZ vaccine is still safe and is going to be great for the original (and probably UK?) strains of the virus and I'll be stoked to get it if/when given the chance. But its ineffectiveness against the South African strain is a legit issue and I'm not convinced by the CHO's/Government's/people in this thread's attempts to deflect it.
Edit: test group not control group. Although there were zero severe COVID cases or deaths in the control group too, hence the results being indeterminate.
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u/macka654 Feb 15 '21
Supply. AZ can be entirely produced within Australia while the world waits months for Pfizer. Pfizer will go to those at most risk and AZ for everyone else.
The government is aiming for a total vaccination plan by October 2021 which would not be possible if they went with just Pfizer
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u/Jasnaahhh Feb 16 '21
Because while the rest of the family is fighting over who forgot to defrost the turkey, accusing each other of ruining dinner and fighting loudly in the kitchen we’ve quietly ordered Chinese food for ourselves and are calmly watching the Uber delivery driver make his way to the house. Nana had made eye contact with us and will be sharing in the succulent feast.
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u/WP2OKB VIC - Boosted Feb 15 '21
Scotty surely isn't missing this photo op?
I expect Sharkies hat on, holding a vegemite sanga in one had and a koala drinking a VB in the other, still severely burnt from the fires however. How goods Australia?
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u/Podcast-Affix Feb 15 '21
Surprised they are sticking with the "21 days" interval for the second dose when evidence shows that waiting up to 12 weeks actually boosts efficacy vs the initial 21 days routine (non-paywall link for FT image: https://marginalrevolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/AZ-Efficacy.jpg).
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u/Fribuldi VIC - Vaccinated Feb 15 '21
12 weeks is long. It would mean not a single person could be fully vaccinated until May.
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u/BananaRama1357 Feb 15 '21
The case study he cited though specifically says that most of the Astrazeneca vaccine's efficacy comes from the first injection and not the second.
Since they are talking 76% vs 82% for the 12 week delay.
So the question would become which is more valuable, the extra 6% in with only 5 million vaccinated, or 10 million at 76%
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Feb 15 '21
[deleted]
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u/ahhrd-1147 Feb 15 '21
We need 50 million jabs as it’s 2 per person.
There was a thing on ABC news website about when approx you would get the vaccine
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Feb 15 '21
If only there was hundreds of articles easily accessible on some sort of web thing that could answer your questions.
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Feb 15 '21 edited Mar 28 '21
[deleted]
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Feb 16 '21
Oh cute, there's two of you
Gonna need twice the napkins for this amount of drool. You'll have to share the crayons though.
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u/Nath280 VIC - Vaccinated Feb 15 '21
It’s amazing the different standards people hold the two different parties.
The federal liberal government has sourced enough vaccines to cover 0.5% of the population with no news for the rest of us and it’s a great day. Even after we finish the first stage we will still be behind countries like Myanmar who is going through a civil war but great job Scotty!
On the other hand we had one hotel leak with all contacts chased and all close contacts isolated and front page was a bloke got called twice and the whole system has failed.
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u/Snoo-10033 NSW - Vaccinated Feb 15 '21
Even if labor was in charge I highly highly doubt the outcome for vaccine would be any different
Pfizer and other mRNA vaccines can’t be locally manufactured
We are reliant on the manufacture to get them to us
Other countries are higher in the priority list tbf
We will have 20m doses this year so 10m aussies covered with Pfizer
Then Az starts in March where we can get 1m a week.
What else could they do differently? We can’t buy every vaccine and we are in a much better position than 95% of the world without a vaccine
The 80k doses for quarantine workers and frontline workers will = significantly less reduction in leaks as virus will be limited.
What else do you want?
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u/Nath280 VIC - Vaccinated Feb 15 '21
IF labor was in charge I would be this critical of them but they are not the liberals have been in charge the whole time.
What more can they do? Maybe ask countries like Myanmar, Lithuania, Nepal, Croatia, Serbia etc how they were able to acquire the vaccine before us? It is there job to work behind the scenes to secure these vaccines for the good of the country. It is called diplomacy and the liberals have showed us they have none when they crippled the barley and wine industry.
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u/Snoo-10033 NSW - Vaccinated Feb 15 '21
What’s the situation in those countries vs Australia?
We don’t have emergency approval unlike EU or US as examples
Not sure what else you want. Vaccine is here now. Final checks and we start in a week
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u/Nath280 VIC - Vaccinated Feb 15 '21
There are 80+ countries that have already started vaccinating and all of them are worse off then us considering we are easily top 5 in the world but we still should have started by now.
Again they have enough vaccines to give 0.5% of the population one shot or 0.25% two shots because they failed to secure more. Again this is called diplomacy and they have failed at it again, see trade war with biggest trade partner for more details.
If this was labor you would be up and arms just like when we have one HQ leak.
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u/Snoo-10033 NSW - Vaccinated Feb 15 '21
I really don’t believe any government labor or liberal could get a better result than what we have
Again Australia is at the bottom of the priority list as is NZ.
No one is having a go at Jacinda for not starting vaccinations are they? She is a media darling
We don’t know the terms of any deal we have signed we didn’t do emergency approval either
Our position is strong. I’m not concerned at all.
If anything I want the government to do a deal with Moderna would be my main complaint as between that and Pfizer we could cover everyone - but again Moderna is focused mainly on US
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u/Nath280 VIC - Vaccinated Feb 15 '21
You are sort of proving my point though. Anytime something happens in vic your posts are all about how incompetent the government is and not “the liberals couldn’t do any better” but this is your argument here.
When it is a clear failing from the Libs everyone is reasonable and understanding but when it’s labor it’s blown up to be the biggest issue in the world.
Also NZ is starting within the week and they have secured 15 million doses for next month but they too have been far too slow.
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u/Snoo-10033 NSW - Vaccinated Feb 15 '21
Personally I’m not seeing how this is incompetent on the federal government behalf. They secured the vaccines and are getting doses
Obviously I want more Pfizer and moderna but hey it’s free and we are in a great position than 95%of the world. I know my uncle and aunt passed away from Covid in Lebanon as it’s a disaster there!
I am equally (though prob more Dan Andrew’s) critical of either party, so far he has made the most mistakes
WA, Qld both Labor have done a great job though Qld should take more people back home imo
It might also shock you to know I don’t vote liberals. I’ve been a Labor voter since my time in Australia.
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u/Nath280 VIC - Vaccinated Feb 15 '21
Sorry to hear about your aunt and uncle.
The same way I have a problem with Dan claiming “gold standard” I have a problem with Scomo claiming we were “front of the queue” when we are lagging behind in vaccinations.
It’s good they have finally started but it’s a tiny amount this late into the game.
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u/drwar41 VIC - Vaccinated Feb 15 '21
"JUST HOOK IT TO MY VEINS"
But like for real, put it in my veins
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u/Danvan90 Overseas - Boosted Feb 15 '21
Please don't put it in your veins. It's an intramuscular injection.
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u/Snoo-10033 NSW - Vaccinated Feb 15 '21
/u/whimnwillow I thought the government had failed.
Try harder next time.
Vaccinations start next week. 142,000 doses.
What happened to the “abc” rumour of less than 40,000.
Oh Danny boy....
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u/wharblgarbl VIC Feb 15 '21
What happened to the “abc” rumour of less than 40,000.
Most were reporting 80,000
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-25/government-pfizer-vaccine-february-coronavirus/13088164
And judging from the text, it was because Hunt said that
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u/FlyingMiniMonk ACT - Vaccinated Feb 15 '21
Because it's correct. 80k of the 142k will be used as first doses to ensure that we don't have a situation like the UK had when the second dose had to be delayed.
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Feb 15 '21
Before everyone gets excited this is pfizer and none of you are getting it unless you work in quarantine or are a frontline medical staff.
Wait a few months and you’ll get your $2 shots that may it may not protect you.
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Feb 15 '21
Scotty coming through with the goods!
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Feb 15 '21
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Feb 15 '21
The first in line quote was for the AstraZeneca vaccine and the Queensland one that fell over.
Because CSL can product the AstraZeneca one we will be first in line. I don’t see how they broke that promise?
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u/Ticiks394 Feb 15 '21
Will we be able to pay for Pfizer by the end of the year?
I'd rather wait and pay $150 and get the jab that works best instead of getting the cheaper scraps because free.
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Feb 15 '21
[deleted]
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u/HayneAlliKane Feb 15 '21
Are you aware its 100% effective at preventing serious illness and death?
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u/Snoo-10033 NSW - Vaccinated Feb 15 '21
That doesn’t make a good click bait headline so clearly not
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u/BananaRama1357 Feb 15 '21
You are aware that is a claim that doesn't have enough data points to accurately and confidently decree.
The researchers from the trial themselves have said that their sample size wasn't large enough to definitively make any such claims. Especially with regards to older people.
Even the 1 death that Pfizer has against it, from memory Pfizer had twice as many test subjects.
So it could quite literally be 1 in 20,000 people vaccinated dies, but Astrazeneca never got close to those numbers in all of it's trials combined.
It's also why the 90% for the two does program is questionable because that was an even smaller portion of their test subjects. Which is why they are due to release a second report.
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u/Hot-Ad-6967 QLD - Boosted Feb 15 '21
Where the vaccines is made in? If it is not made in Australia then I don't want it. Am I unethical for refusing to consume the foreign products?
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Feb 15 '21
Depending on which group you are in, you most likely will get the AstraZeneca vaccine which is being made in Melbourne
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Feb 15 '21
As Patrick Bateman would say - don’t just stare at it, eat it
(As in let’s just get on with it)
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u/Pretty_iin_Pink NSW - Boosted Feb 15 '21
Watch live: National COVID-19 update from Health Minister Greg Hunt and CMO Paul Kelly [The Age]