• Australia may receive doses of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine by August or September, blowing past initial estimates.
• Speaking before the Senate Select Committee on Tuesday, Health Department Secretary Dr Brendan Murphy said the company is “confident” it can deliver those doses by Q3.
• Supply chain issues have hamstrung the manufacturer, which the Health Department initially hoped would deliver as early as the first half of 2021.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

Australia’s supply of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine could arrive in August, Health Department Secretary Dr Brendan Murphy says, blowing past the Federal Government’s original hopes of securing those doses in the first half of the year.

A Health Department website states Novavax doses could be available in Australia “as early as the first half of 2021,” pending approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

But supply chain issues have dashed the firm’s hopes of ramping up production by mid-year.

The Herald Sun reports Dr Murphy told the Senate Select Committee on Tuesday night that Novavax is now optimistic about delivering those doses later this year.

“It’s September, but it could even be August,” Dr Murphy said, adding that the firm is “saying is that they’re confident of giving us some.”

Australia has signed on for 51 million European-made doses of the Novavax vaccine, which have exhibited strong results in clinical trials, but are yet to receive a final sign-off from the TGA.

The Novavax doses were slated to form the third prong of Australia’s vaccine strategy, supplementing earlier salvos of Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines.

But separate supply chain holdups, and the decision to recommend those under 50 receive alternatives to the AstraZeneca vaccine due to its reported links to rare blood clots, have forced a drastic rethink of Australia’s vaccination strategy.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed an acceleration of the AstraZeneca rollout for Australians over 50, with that cohort free to receive vaccinations at state-run vaccine sites from May 3, and general practices a fortnight later.

That attempt to speed up Australia’s rollout comes while the number of actual jabs languishes.

Only 32,037 Australians received a vaccine dose in the 24 hours leading to Tuesday, April 27, bringing the total number of administered doses to just 1.96 million.

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