World Australia approves Pfizer vaccine for rollout in February

Australia's medical regulator has formally approved the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, with the first doses expected to be administered in late February, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Monday.

© JACK GUEZ Australia has secured 10 million doses of the vaccine from Pfizer

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) granted provisional approval for the Pfizer product, making it the first Covid-19 vaccine to get the green light in Australia.

"I note this is not an emergency approval, as has been done in some other jurisdictions around the world," Morrison told reporters.

"This is a formal approval under the ordinary processes of the TGA and we are one of the first countries... to have gone through that comprehensive and thorough process here in Australia to ensure the approval of that vaccine."

Asia Was a Model for How to Deal With COVID-19. Why Is It Lagging in Vaccine Rollouts?

But most nations in the Asia-Pacific region, including South Korea, won't begin vaccinating citizens until February or March. New Zealand, another COVID-19 success story, won’t start vaccinating its healthcare workers until April. In the wealthy business hub of Singapore, just 6,000 people have received doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine since Dec. 30, out of a population of 5.7 million.Read More: A Year After COVID-19 Emerged, Asia Struggles to Contain Growing OutbreaksIt’s the deft handling of COVID-19 by many countries that has contributed to them becoming laggards in the vaccine race, experts say.

Pfizer 's COVID-19 vaccine is the first to be approved for use in Australia . The TGA said following a thorough and independent review of Pfizer 's submission, it was decided the vaccine met the high safety, efficacy and quality standards required.

Josh Frydenberg says Pfizer /BioNTech vaccine shortages overseas are unlikely to affect Australia 's planned COVID-19 vaccine rollout , with But Mr Frydenberg says Australia is still on track to receive the vaccines in mid to late February . Italy has threatened to sue Pfizer for a breach of contract over

Australia has secured 10 million doses from Pfizer -- enough to vaccinate five million people -- with healthcare workers and the elderly expected to receive the first jabs.

Morrison cautioned that the rollout would start with "very small beginnings" in late February, instead of the mid-February timetable his government had promised, due to production and delivery challenges globally.

He said the vaccination programme should be complete by October.

It means Australia will begin inoculating its citizens months after the United States and United Kingdom, despite Morrison's boast earlier in the pandemic that his country would be "at the front of the queue".

Largely virus-free Australia has fared comparatively well in its Covid-19 response, with 909 deaths from about 28,700 cases in a population of 25 million.

The country has also secured more than 50 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, with the majority set to be manufactured locally, but the TGA is yet to grant approval.

hr/dm/axn