Australia commences with the production of AstraZeneca-Oxford Covid-19 vaccine

Photo Credits: REUTERS file photo

The CSIL company initiated with the process of production of the Covid-19 vaccine candidate developed by University of Oxford and AstraZeneca on Monday, according to the Australian media reports.

As per the data given by Sydney’s 2GB radio, as many as 30 million doses will be subjected to manufacturing in Victoria starting from Monday.

Australian Health Minister, Greg Hunt revealed on 2GB on Monday, “[The vaccine] is going to be voluntary but we will encourage as many people as possible.”

Greg further added, “We are confident that we will have a very high take-up amongst the Australian population.”

According to the reports by Sydney Herald, it would take CSIL nearly a period of 50 days for completely processing the vaccine. Sydney Herald reported regarding the company having individual contracts with AstraZeneca and the Australian government with respect to the production of the Covid-19 vaccine.

However, the Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) still needs to give an approval to the AstraZeneca vaccine. It has been noted that the phase three clinical trials of the vaccine will be completed by the end of this year.

As per the revelation by Greg Hunt, the vaccine will be available for administration to the public by March 2021.

(With inputs from ANI)