Novavax COVID-19 vaccine in Australia: When will we get it? And is it better than Pfizer?
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updated 2
Novavax has begun its process of seeking TGA approval.
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Key points:
It s one of four COVID-19 vaccines in the TGA pipeline
Novavax is made using more traditional-style methods and is currently going through phase three trials in the US and Mexico
Up until that moment, most Australians were slated to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine with 53.8 million doses already secured by the federal government.
But what about Novavax?
SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19 disease, has spike proteins.
Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines all work by training the immune system to recognise and fight these spike proteins, but they each use different technologies to do this.
A Western Australian woman who suffered a rare blood clot after receiving the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine remains in a stable condition following a short stint in intensive care.
The woman in her 40s presented at the emergency department of a regional hospital about a fortnight after receiving the jab in mid-March.
She was flown to Royal Darwin Hospital where she was admitted to intensive care.
She is now in a stable condition. Her family has authorised us to say that her progress has been very positive and that she is recovering well, WA health minister Roger Cook told reporters on Tuesday.
Australia needs to speed up its Covid-19 vaccine rollout and rethink its strategy if the country is going to reach its end of year deadline, a top doctor says.
Epidemiologist professor Nancy Baxter says it is unlikely the Federal Government will reach its target to have the entire population vaccinated by the end of the year if they continue on the current trajectory. We need to do it faster than we were hoping before, if we re hoping to get everyone vaccinated by the end of the year, she told Weekend Today.
Her doubts come after several setbacks to the vaccine program, which include a delayed rollout and advice, from the country s chief immunisation authority, against the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Australia will soon begin sharing its vaccine stockpile with nations in the Pacific, despite the derailment of its own inoculation plan at a time when hotel quarantine systems are reporting an influx of Covid patients.
At least 10,000 Australian-manufactured doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are to be distributed each week to help the country s neighbours inoculate their highest-risk populations at a time when the international supply is constrained.
Supply will scale up as required, Health Minister Greg Hunt, Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Minister for International Development and the Pacific Zed Seselja said in a joint statement. Our region s health security and economic recovery is intertwined with our own, the statement reads.