The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has given its provisional approval for the US-made Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to be used on Australian adults to control the current pandemic coronaviruses.
The TGA said the vaccine met its strict standards of safety, quality and efficacy for use in people aged 18 years and over.
Prime Minister, Scott Morrison said the TGA approval would be a boost for Australia’s vaccination rollout.
Mr Morrison said the TGA had given the green light to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, finding it safe, effective and the best way to stop severe illness and hospitalisation.
“Every vaccination saves lives and gets us one step closer to reaching 70 per cent of Australians, aged over 16, vaccinated before the end of the year,” Mr Morrison said.
The TGA said that the Moderna vaccine would require two doses to be administered, 28 days apart.
Mr Morrison said the Government had secured 25 million Moderna doses, with the first million expected to arrive in September.
“A total of 10 million doses will be dispatched to Australia in 2021 and a further 15 million booster doses in the first half of 2022,” Mr Morrison said.
Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt said the Moderna approval was a further important step forward for Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout.
“The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation’s COVID-19 Working Group will factor the provisional approval and supplies of the Moderna vaccine into their future advice regarding the COVID-19 vaccine rollout,” Mr Hunt said.
He said that Moderna was an mRNA vaccine, the same vaccine type as the Pfizer vaccine already in use in Australia.
