Vaccine supply strengthened, what is next?
The federal government announced that 25 million doses of Moderna vaccine have been ordered, with 10 million doses be delivered from September this year before the end of the year and another 15 million doses of booster shots, an updated form of the vaccine be delivered in 2022. Moderna has been widely used in the United States and has known to be highly effective with few side effects noted.
It is expected that the vaccine will be used as an alternative to Pfizer for the under 50’s and the government does not expect the Moderna vaccine to be used as an alternative to AstraZeneca. However, there is a discussion that Moderna vaccine may be used together with other vaccines and possibly as a booster in future.
Obviously, with the logistic problems encountered in distributing the Pfizer vaccine and the blood clotting warning for the under 50’s with AstraZeneca, the federal government is responding by getting 51 million doses of Novavax in April but with no fixed delivery date and approval to be used by TGA yet. Now the deal with Moderna allows the federal government to have more choices in its vaccination rollout.
With the supply of vaccine strengthened, the federal government should address the issue of vaccine hesitancy. In countries like the US, UK and other European Union countries, vaccine hesitancy is an obstacle for society to achieve herd immunity. Australia is a multicultural country and more effort should be paid on CALD communities to promote vaccination against Covid-19.
It should not be taken for granted that promotion messages of the vaccines among mainstream society will be heard and accepted by the CALD communities. Most of the ethnic minorities in Australia have been receiving Covid-19 information from their home countries. Unfortunately, misinformation about vaccines has been widespread and even encouraged by some governments for political and other reasons. There are signs that misinformation about the vaccine from overseas is affecting the decision of many from ethnic background to receive vaccines.
Much more should be done by the governments in Australia to counteract these influences.
Raymond Chow
Publisher, Blessing CALD