New vaccine facility set for Monash uni
Michael Ramsey |
Moderna’s vaccine production facility will be based at Monash University under a 10-year deal inked with both state and federal governments.
Up to 100 million mRNA vaccine doses will be produced each year under the manufacturing partnership confirmed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday.
Moderna will also set up its headquarters and a regional research centre in Victoria.
Mr Albanese said COVID-19 had presented a “once in a generation” opportunity to safeguard the nation in the face of future public health crises.
“The pandemic has shown us how important local manufacturing capability is to our security and to our health,” he said.
“This significant deal will protect Australians and Australian sovereignty.”
Meanwhile, Australia’s latest wave of infections may be nearing its end but new sub-variants could soon bring a further spike in cases, an epidemiologist warns.
NSW and Victoria combined reported fewer than 10,000 new infections on Monday, while about 35,000 cases were announced nationwide over the weekend.
The seven-day average for case numbers in Australia has dropped to the lowest level since mid-February, according to Johns Hopkins data.
University of South Australia epidemiologist Adrian Esterman says while the wave linked to the highly infectious BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub-variants appears to have subsided, others continue to emerge.
“We’re seeing a wave due to new sub-variants every three to four months and we have done for the last eight months,” he told AAP.
“So if the same pattern continues, we might expect a new wave from a new sub-variant around November, and there’s already a couple on the horizon.”
Professor Esterman said the BA.2.75 variant was taking over as the dominant strain in India, while BA.4.6 had begun to take hold in parts of the United States.
Those strains were almost certainly already in Australia but it was too soon to know whether they would become dominant or if a sub-variant that caused more severe infections would assume their place, he said.
“There’s absolutely no guarantee the next wave that comes along isn’t going to be incredibly severe. We simply don’t know.”
States and territories have largely rolled back protections including mask mandates.
But Prof Esterman says the persistence of the virus means there’s a need for more public health measures including greater education around mask-wearing and the importance of booster shots.
LATEST 24-HOUR COVID-19 DATA:
NSW: 5490 cases, six deaths, 2178 in hospital with 59 in ICU
Victoria: 3648 cases, 15 deaths, 571 in hospital with 27 in ICU
Queensland: 1901 cases, no deaths, 459 in hospital with 25 in ICU
Tasmania: 398 cases, no deaths, 62 in hospital with three in ICU
WA: 1605 cases, two deaths, 303 in hospital with nine in ICU
SA: 1194 cases, four deaths, 274 in hospital with 12 in ICU
NT: 100 cases, no deaths, 31 in hospital with one in ICU
AAP
