By Juliano Oliveira
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has provisionally approved the use of Spikevax (Moderna) as the fourth COVID-19 vaccine to be implemented in Australia.
Individuals 18 years of age and older are recommended to get the vaccine in two doses administered 28 days apart. According to the TGA, data to support the use of Moderna’s vaccine in adolescents aged 12 to 17 years are currently under evaluation, and no specific concerns have been identified to date.
The United Kingdom, Canada, the European Union, the United States, Switzerland and Singapore have obtained successful results in terms of its efficacy.
Addressing the media, Prime Minister Scott Morrison celebrated the provisional approval for the use of Moderna for Australians aged 18 years and over.
“This means we have an additional 25 million doses of Moderna to add to the 125 million Pfizer doses and 53 million AstraZeneca doses we have already started rolling out,” Mr Morrison said.
“We will have 10 million of Moderna doses arriving before the end of this year. The first one million doses is on track to arrive next month and will go to pharmacies. Then we will have three million in October, three million in November and three million in December.”
The agreement still includes the supply of 15 million doses of Moderna’s updated variant booster vaccine in 2022.
In a statement, TGA reassured that Australians can be confident that the review process of Spikevax was rigorous. “The TGA will continue to monitor the safety of Spikevax actively and will not hesitate to take action if safety concerns are identified.”