Australia this week secured a deal to buy 51 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine from a Maryland biotech company.
Under the agreement, Novavax will provide the country with millions of doses of its recombinant protein vaccine by the middle of the year. Australia also has the option to buy an additional 10 million doses under the deal.
“The continued increase in significant COVID-19 transmission in virtually all parts of the world underscores the need for multiple safe, efficacious vaccines in enormous quantities to stop the pandemic,” Novavax President Stanley C. Erck said. “We appreciate the confidence of the Australian government and the opportunity to play a role in ensuring that its citizens will have access to a protein-based vaccine that can be distributed using existing distribution channels, should it receive regulatory approval.”
The biotech company, which is based in Gaithersburg, is conducting late-stage trials of its coronavirus vaccine in the U.S., United Kingdom and South Africa.
Novavax will work with the Therapeutics Goods Administration, Australia’s regulatory agency, to get its vaccine approved.
• Shen Wu Tan can be reached at stan@washingtontimes.com.
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