CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA (AP) – Australia said on Friday it had finalized a deal to buy an additional 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine as it quickly moved away from its previous plan to rely primarily on the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the deal just hours after saying Australia would stop using the AstraZeneca vaccine for people under 50.
He said the deal means Australia will get a total of 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine by the end of the year, enough to inoculate 20 million people in the nation’s 26 million.
The Australian pivot came after the European Medicines Agency said this week that it had found a “possible link” between the AstraZeneca vaccine and rare blood clots, although UK and EU regulators stressed that the benefits of receiving the vaccine continue to outweigh risks for most people.
Following the European agency’s statement, Australian drug regulators held a series of urgent meetings on Thursday and recommended that the Pfizer vaccine be made the preferred vaccine for children under 50.
Morrison said there was no ban on the AstraZeneca vaccine and that the risk of side effects was remote. He said the change was made with great caution.
The pivot represents a significant shift in Australia’s overall approach and is likely to delay plans for everyone to inoculate before October.
An important part of Australia’s strategy had been the ability to make its own vaccines at home and not depend on shipments from abroad. It planned to manufacture about 50 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, enough for 25 million people. Australia had no plans to make any other vaccines at home.
Even before the change, the government faced criticism for a deployment program that lagged behind those of most other developed countries. To date, Australia has administered just over a million doses of vaccine.
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said the launch was a debacle and that Australians needed certainty about when they would be vaccinated.
“This government has failed. This government could not pass a choko vine through a back fence, ”Albanese told reporters, referring to a plant that produces pear-shaped fruit and grows easily in the Australian climate.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said there would be some adjustments, but everyone would stay safe and get vaccinated.
Australia has managed to eliminate community spread of the virus, allowing life to continue just as it did before the pandemic.
AstraZeneca noted that Australia’s decision to restrict the use of the vaccine was based on the fact that it had no community transmission.
“Overall, regulatory agencies have reaffirmed that the vaccine offers a high level of protection against all severity of COVID-19 and that these benefits continue to far outweigh the risks,” the company said in a statement.