by Ganesh Sahathevan
Professor Paul Kelly, the Chief Medical Officer, channeling his predecessor Brendan Murphy, has told SBS that Australia should remain confident in the AstraZeneca vaccine rollout plan.
"It is very effective against severe illness. It will save lives," he told reporters.
"The choice is not whether one is better than the other, it's which one is available to give the maximum rollout of vaccine ... to protect lives this year."
Professor Kelly said he was worried that selective use of data from clinical trials could undermine confidence in the vaccine.
"People should be confident about safety, being our first priority," he said.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported in July last year:
AstraZeneca has been granted protection from future product liability claims related to its COVID-19 vaccine hopeful by most of the countries with which it has struck supply agreements, a senior executive told Reuters.
“This is a unique situation where we as a company simply cannot take the risk if in ... four years the vaccine is showing side effects,” Ruud Dobber, a member of Astra’s senior executive team, told Reuters.
“In the contracts we have in place, we are asking for indemnification. For most countries it is acceptable to take that risk on their shoulders because it is in their national interest,” he said, adding that Astra and regulators were making safety and tolerability a top priority.
And then, in November the ABC reported:
Manufacturing of Oxford University's vaccine began in Victoria on Monday.
The company, CSL, is making about 30 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine despite it still going through phase-three clinical trials.
It does not appear as if CSL, which is listed on the AX, has the same immunity from liability granted AstraZeneca. It is something for Australians to keep in mind, given Kelly's Murphy like "trust me, I know what I am doing" response to concerns about the AstraZeneca vaccine.
| Open | 272.80 |
| High | 273.00 |
| Low | 268.99 |
| Mkt cap | 123.32B |
| P/E ratio | 45.57 |
| Div yield | 1.09% |
| Prev close | 273.07 |
| 52-wk high | 342.75 |
| 52-wk low | 242.67 |
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