Australians could be first in line for free coronavirus vaccines after getting the green light to stockpile 100 MILLION vials being developed by Queensland scientists
- Australians will get fee vaccines against COVID-19 if if hits shelves next year
- The University of Queensland and CSL are taking their vaccine to human trials
- Queensland’s state government has now secured 100 million vials if successful
- This is exchange for a $10million funding boost for research and development
Australians will be first in line for free coronavirus vaccines if scientists are successful in creating the pioneering jab.
The Queensland government has struck a deal to secure 100 million vials of a vaccine if it is successfully developed by the University of Queensland.
This would provide enough doses for every Australian resident, and come at no cost to the public.
Australians will be first in line for free coronavirus vaccines if they make it to shelves next year (Pictured: researchers at the University of Queensland conduct lab work in the race to find a vaccine against COVID-19)
In exchange, the Queensland state government has handed over $10million in taxpayer funds to fast track research and development for the jab.
The federal government has allocated $5million dollars to the cause.
Queensland state innovation minister Kate Jones said they want to look after residents on home soil first.
‘Our priority is to stop COVID-19 in its tracks,’ Ms Jones told The Sunday-Mail.
‘As part of our commitment – and should the vaccine prove successful – we have secured 100 million vials that will be available to Queensland, Australia, New Zealand and our Pacific neighbours.’
The vaccine under development uses groundbreaking ‘molecule clamp’ technology which fuses together a synthetic COVID-19 spike protein (pictured, the researchers at work)
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt confirmed Australians would have priority access.
‘We expect to have sufficient vaccine for the entire Australian population as part of the CSL agreement,’ he said.
The University of Queensland is one of the front-runners in the global race to find a vaccine for COVID-19, working alongside Australian drug giant CSL.
Human trials for the university’s vaccine began on July 13.
If clinical trials are successful and it is approved by health regulators, CSL will produce ‘hundreds of millions’ of doses of the drug in 2021.
The vaccine under development uses groundbreaking ‘molecule clamp’ technology which fuses together a synthetic COVID-19 spike protein.
This protein tricks the body into thinking it has coronavirus and triggers an immune response to defend itself.
University of Queensland will retain the intellectual property rights to the technology despite the agreement with CSL.
CSL has only been granted the manufacturing rights to produce a vaccine for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Australians will be first in line for free coronavirus vaccines if they make it to shelves next year (Pictured: Melbourne residents wear masks while walking through the Fitzroy Gardens on
UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND’S PIONEERING ‘MOLECULAR CLAMP’ TECHNOLOGY FIGHTING COVID-19
The university received a request from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to use its newly patented DNA-based molecular clamp technology to fast-track the vaccine after the virus hit Australia’s shores in January.
A team of 20 researchers have spent the last 15 months preparing for a ‘rapid response’.
The technology uses the DNA sequence of the coronavirus released by China to produce a protein that’s the same as the one on the surface of the actual virus.
That protein will be the essence of the vaccine, capable of generating immune system responses that protect people.
The vaccine was developed using molecular clamp technology that locks the ‘spike’ protein into a shape