Australia buys 25 million Moderna vaccine doses

Australia has reached a supply agreement for 25 million doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine, Health Minister Greg Hunt said Thursday. The deal included 10 million doses of the vaccine to be delivered in 2021, and 15 million doses of an updated variant booster to be delivered in 2022, Moderna said in a statement.

The vaccines have yet to be approved by the Australian regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration. Pfizer and AstraZeneca are the only coronavirus vaccines approved for use in Australia so far. Moderna vaccines would help the country of achieve its aim of inoculating all willing adults within a population of 26 million by the end of the year.

Hunt also said there were plans to manufacture mRNA vaccines domestically in Australia. Australia has been relatively successful in containing the virus. While 910 have died of COVID-19, the government argues the death toll would be 30,000 higher if Australia's fatality rate was the average of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.