Labor has warned Australia’s order of 10m doses of the promising Pfizer vaccine is not enough to cover vulnerable populations and critical workers.
Early data on Tuesday suggested the Pfizer vaccine may be 90% effective in stopping the transmission of the virus, raising optimism of a breakthrough.
So far, Australia has secured a deal with Pfizer to receive 10m doses of its vaccine over the course of 2021, if it proves safe and effective and is approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
Each person would need two doses, meaning Australia’s initial order would only cover five million Australians.
The shadow health minister, Chris Bowen, said that would not be enough to cover priority groups, including the elderly, aged care and health workers, and other workers who are critical to the functioning of society.
“There are more than five million elderly people (over 65s), health and aged care workers and those working in services critical to societal functioning, which the Technical Advisory Group has identified as priority groups for vaccination,” he said.
The Pfizer vaccine is far from the only candidate that the government has secured a deal for. All up, it has secured deals for 134.8m doses from four different vaccine developers, including the University of Queensland molecular clamp vaccine, the AstraZeneca vaccine, and the Novavax vaccine.
Health minister Greg Hunt said Bowen’s comments represent a “bizarre level of ignorance”.
“He has developed a unique ability to make uninformed and inevitably incorrect claims and was repudiated by Pfizer only last week,” Hunt said.
“We have enough vaccines to meet a population of 67.5 million, and we will address all priorities identified by The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI).”
The Pfizer vaccine relies on mRNA, which is used to introduce a tiny amount of the virus into human cells, triggering an immune response.
Australia currently has no mRNA manufacturing capability, forcing it to rely on imports. The mRNA will also require storage and distribution at -70C and can only be stored at 4C for 24 hours maximum.
Experts have warned this would make “transportation and storage much more difficult”.
Some experts have told the Guardian that Australia is well placed to distribute at such temperatures, but others have warned it will be a significant challenge in rural and remote settings.
Peter Collignon, an infectious diseases physician with the Australian National University, said it would be a “massive logistical hurdle”.
The National Rural Health Alliance agreed distribution at such temperatures would prove challenging. But a spokeswoman expressed confidence that the government was planning for a widespread rollout of such a vaccine.
“The National Rural Health Alliance anticipates that the government will be prioritising the most vulnerable communities for the vaccine including remote Indigenous communities,” the spokeswoman told the Guardian. “The shipping and storage at cold temperatures will be a challenge but it is our expectation that the government is planning the logistics now to ensure that high-risk communities are not disadvantaged.”
Bowen said he wanted to see more detail from the government on its distribution plans.
“Minister Hunt only issued tenders last week to coordinate the distribution of vaccines across the country to deliver on varied temperature requirements,” he said.
“We’ve been late to the party with our supply deals. Now the vaccines are almost here.
“We need more detail about how we get them into people’s hands.”
In a statement earlier this week, Hunt acknowledged the “significant logistical challenge”, but said that significant work was being undertaken to ensure effective distribution.
But he also rejected Bowen’s criticisms, saying Australia had already secured distribution within Australia for the Pfizer mRNA vaccine.
“Indeed the manufacturer has humiliatingly refuted Chris Bowen’s statement. Sometimes Chris, it is better to remain silent if you have no idea what you are talking about,” he said.
“The Australian government continues to undertake thorough planning to ensure the doses Australia receives are kept as safe and secure as possible. The Australian government continues to prepare for the temperature requirement scenarios for all candidates, including: 2-8C, -20C and -70C.”
