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(Adds AstraZeneca reaction)
By Swati Pandey
SYDNEY, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Some Australian scientists have
proposed delaying mass inoculation using AstraZeneca's
COVID-19 vaccine with a view to considering a different shot
instead.
Questions surrounding the vaccine in Australia, which
recorded just one new local case of the novel coronavirus on
Wednesday, have cast a cloud over its immunisation plans, with
53 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine already on order.
Experts cited data showing the AstraZeneca shot,
co-developed with Oxford University, had 62% efficacy compared
with more than 90% for a vaccine developed by Pfizer and
its partner BioNTech.
"The question is really whether it (AstraZeneca) is able to
provide herd immunity. We are playing a long game here. We don't
know how long that will take," said Professor Stephen Turner,
president of the Australian and New Zealand Society for
Immunology (ASI).
Turner said the government must pivot towards getting more
of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
Earlier, he told the Sydney Morning Herald that the
AstraZeneca vaccine is not one "I would be deploying widely
because of that lower efficacy."
In a statement, the ASI said Turner was speaking as an
expert in immunology and that the body did not advocate a pause
to the rollout as widely reported by local media.
Australia has agreed to buy 10 million doses of the Pfizer
vaccine, though neither AstraZeneca nor Pfizer have approval
from the country's drug regulator, the Therapeutic Goods
Administration (TGA).
An AstraZeneca spokesman said the company "has always
maintained that the world will need several safe and effective
vaccines and other medicines to combat this deadly global
pandemic."
He said peer-reviewed trial results on efficacy exceed the
minimum threshold set by the World Health Organization as well
as that set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for
approval.
"AstraZeneca has full confidence in the rigorous and robust
processes governing the approval and rollout of vaccination
programmes in Australia," the spokesman added.
Its vaccine is approved in Argentina, Britain and India and
is under review in several other countries including Brazil and
South Korea.
'EFFECTIVE, SAFE, HIGH QUALITY'
Australia's chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, attempted to
address concerns around the efficacy of the AstraZeneca vaccine,
calling it "effective", "safe" and "high quality".
"The great advantage of the AstraZeneca vaccine is it's
being made here in Australia," Kelly said. "It will be available
as soon as the TGA gives its tick, which we expect that it will
in February."
Kelly said Australia would have more data by February as
well as "real-world information" coming from London, which has
already rolled out the vaccine.
Australia has been more successful than many other countries
in managing the pandemic, with total infections in the country
of 25 million people at about 28,600, with 909 deaths. (Graphic:
https://tmsnrt.rs/34pvUyi)
Its success is largely attributable to closed borders and
widespread compliance with social-distancing rules, along with
aggressive testing and tracing programmes.
Given the low case numbers and community transmission rates,
some experts say Australia could afford to wait for a more
effective vaccine.
"The government needs to be flexible in its rollout
decisions once we have a better understanding of the efficacy of
the other vaccines," said Adrian Esterman, chair of
Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of South
Australia.
Australia recorded one new local coronavirus case in its
most populous state of New South Wales on Wednesday.
In Queensland, hundreds of hotel quarantine guests were
forced to restart their isolation after a handful of cases in
the facility were linked to the highly contagious virus strain
prevalent in Britain.
(Additional reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Gerry Doyle,
Sam Holmes, Mike Collett-White and Barbara Lewis)
