January 16, 2021

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) supports the Australian Government’s COVID-19 vaccine national roll-out strategy and the statement issued by the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases, Public Health Association of Australia and Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control which says Australians can have confidence in our vaccine strategy.  

Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine national roll-out strategy is likely to employ a range of vaccines, all of which will undergo a thorough review process by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to ensure their efficacy and safety.

The TGA will consider the evidence from the phase 3 trials for the Pfizer and Astra Zeneca vaccines. This is the normal approach taken by the TGA to the review of any new vaccine before it is approved for use and the RACP has every confidence in that process.  

RACP President-elect Dr Jacqueline Small says “Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand are in a strong position because our governments, our health workers and our communities have all worked hard to manage and contain the spread of COVID-19.”

“When you compare our outcomes to other countries, our efforts have been very successful in managing the spread of this highly contagious virus. But the battle is not over yet.”

“Having high levels of vaccine uptake is going to be a critical next step in our fight against COVID-19 and what’s really important is the public knowing that these vaccines are being thoroughly examined by the regulators to ensure they are safe. The Astra Zeneca vaccine will also be locally manufactured and can be distributed in a wider range of settings because unlike the Pfizer vaccine, it doesn’t require storage at -70 degrees C. This means it will be available to more Australians in more locations in a faster timeframe than could be achieved if we only had access to the Pfizer vaccine.

“It is also important that all our political leaders continue to publicly support the advice provided by our world leading medical experts.”  Vaccinating our populations is the next step in our strategy to control COVID-19. As the broader population is vaccinated, we expect progress towards less restrictive public health controls.