Australia’s first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines has been formally approved and will arrive in the country within weeks.
The European Union has approved the export of vaccines to 23 countries including Australia.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is tight-lipped on when the jabs will reach Australian shores, saying he will have more to say “in the not too distant future”.
He praised the health and foreign affairs ministers for their work in navigating the European export restrictions.
Mr Morrison said he was very aware of the “extreme pressures” on European vaccine supplies.
“Australia has done very well to maintain our supply lines here as has been confirmed by the European Union,” he told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly says confirmation the EU would not block Pfizer exports to Australia means the vaccine rollout is on track.
“That means that there is no blockage from that point of view in terms of the vaccine arriving,” he told reporters in Canberra.
“We are definitely on track for the first vaccines in Australia of the already TGA-approved Pfizer vaccine before the end of February.”
The formal approval comes after the EU ambassador to Canberra promised export restrictions would not affect Australia’s first order of the Pfizer vaccine.
Overnight, an expert panel advising the World Health Organisation recommended using the AstraZeneca vaccine despite recent reports raising questions about its effectiveness.
Professor Kelly said the WHO group was an internationally respected body that included Australian experts.
“First of all, it’s effective. Second of all, it is safe and third of all, it should be used and can be used around the world,” he told reporters in Canberra.
He said the recommendation included using the vaccine in countries with new variants of the coronavirus and without age restrictions.
Trade Minister Dan Tehan is confident the Pfizer jabs will start being administered within weeks.
“I met with the European Union ambassador last week and he assured me that the vaccines would be arriving as they said they would be,” he told Nine.
Australia is relying on 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which are being produced within Europe, and more than 50 million of the AstraZeneca drug.
There were fears the Pfizer order could be jeopardised after the EU placed export controls on vaccines produced in its territory, worried about its own supplies.
There is still no confirmed date for when the shipment will leave Europe or when it will arrive in Australia.
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