A new high-tech vaccine manufacturing facility will be developed in Melbourne to secure Australia\u2019s long-term supply of critical health products including pandemic influenza vaccines and life-saving antivenoms.
\nThe $1 billion agreement between the Morrison Government and Seqirus also provides the ability to rapidly manufacture vaccines when responding to health pandemics in the future.
\nPrime Minister Scott Morrison said the new complex would be the largest influenza vaccine manufacturing facility in the Southern Hemisphere.
\n\u201cKeeping Australians safe is my number one priority and while we are rightly focused on both the health and economic challenges of COVID-19, we must also guard against future threats,\u201d the Prime Minister said.
\n\u201cThis agreement cements Australia\u2019s long-term sovereign medical capabilities, giving us the ability to develop vaccines when we need them.\u201d
\n\u201cJust as major defence equipment must be ordered well in advance, this is an investment in our national health security against future pandemics.\u201d
\nHealth Minister Greg Hunt said under the agreement, Seqirus would invest $800 million in the development of the facility project, creating 520 construction jobs, commencing in 2021.
\n\u201cThis new facility will guarantee Australian health security against pandemic influenza for the next two decades.\u201d
\n\u201cOur government\u2019s strategy to protect the health and wellbeing of Australians and the Australian economy, as well as having access to a world class health system.\u201d
\n\u201cThis is a major milestone, ensuring that Australia can mass produce vaccines against future flu pandemics, as well as continuing onshore production of seasonal flu vaccines, Q fever vaccines and antivenoms.
\nWithout this historic agreement, the nation would need to source these critical medical products from overseas.
\nSeqirus is currently the only company making influenza and Q fever vaccine in Australia, and the only company in the world making life saving antivenom products against 11 poisonous Australian creatures (snakes, marine creatures and spiders).
\nThe current agreement between the Australian Government and Seqirus\u2014a subsidiary of CSL Ltd\u2014is due to end in 2024-25. To continue onshore manufacturing in Australia, Seqirus will now invest in a major new vaccine manufacturing facility close to Melbourne airport to replace its existing, ageing production facilities in Parkville, Melbourne.
\nThe highly specialised production facility is expected to be operational by 2026 with the contract for supply of these critical products extending to 2036.
\nMinister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews said Australia\u2019s manufacturing capability had been a huge asset during the COVID-19 pandemic and this agreement will keep us in a strong position.
\n\u201cThe Morrison Government knows just how important it is for Australia to be able to stand up for itself when it really matters,\u201d Minister Andrews said.
\n\u201cThis investment will not only allow us to continue to manufacture the essentials we need well into the future but it will also create and secure high paying manufacturing jobs across a range of skills.
\n\u201cThis agreement is just one in a range of investments we\u2019re making to drive Australian manufacturing forward and create jobs. We\u2019re also investing a further $1.3 billion through our Modern Manufacturing Initiative into projects across six priority areas, including medical products.\u201d
\nThe Morrison Government acted quickly and decisively to address the consequences of COVID-19 and as a result, Australia has achieved some of the best health and economic outcomes in the world.
\nMore than $18.5 billion has committed to support the emergency COVID-19 health response to the pandemic, including $3.2 billion to secure access to over 134.8 million doses of potential COVID-19 vaccine candidates developed by the University of Oxford-Astra Zeneca and the University of Queensland, Pfizer-BioNTech and Novavax.
\nThe Victorian Government has also supported the procurement of suitable land for Seqirus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A new high-tech vaccine manufacturing facility will be developed in Melbourne to secure Australia\u2019s long-term supply of critical health products including pandemic influenza vaccines and life-saving antivenoms. The $1 billion agreement between the Morrison Government and Seqirus also provides the ability to rapidly manufacture vaccines when responding to health pandemics in the future. Prime Minister … Continue reading “$1 Billion Manufacturing Agreement Secures Australia\u2019s National Health Security”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9227\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}