Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Australia Expects To Get First Vaccine Batches In January
Reuters: Australia Expects To Receive AstraZeneca's COVID-19 Vaccine Within Months
Australia expects to receive its first batches of a potential COVID-19 vaccine in January, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday, as the number of new daily infections in the country’s virus hotspot fell to a 10-week low. Morrison said his government has struck a deal with CSL Ltd to manufacture two vaccines - one developed by rival AstraZeneca and Oxford University, and another developed in CSL’s own labs with the University of Queensland. (Packham, 9/6)
MarketWatch: AstraZeneca Vaccine ‘Most Likely’ To Roll Out In The U.K. Early Next Year
U.K. health secretary Matt Hancock on Monday said a COVID-19 vaccine would “most likely” be available in the first few months of 2021, as the country recorded a sharp rise in daily coronavirus cases. Speaking on national news radio station LBC, Hancock said the government has already started production of the U.K. government’s initial order of 30 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine, which is being developed by pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca AZN, -1.07% in collaboration with the University of Oxford. (Saigol, 9/8)
Sydney Morning Herald: Oxford Vaccine For Brits Before Australians, UK Health Secretary Vows
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday that under agreements his government had struck, Australians could have 3.8 million doses of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine by January or February next year. The first doses would be imported but the rest of 84.8 million shots for Australia and its regional neighbours would be produced in Melbourne. However, when that claim was put to the British Health Secretary on London talkback radio hours later, Matt Hancock maintained the UK would be ahead of Australia. (Bourke, 9/8)
