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Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced Australia has secured a combined 50 million doses of two COVID-19 vaccine candidates.Credit:Brook Mitchell/Getty Images

Australia now has agreements for four separate vaccine candidates,including the two announced on Thursday along with the University of Queensland vaccine and the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca candidate.

Paul Griffin,a clinical disease specialist and the local lead clinical trial investigator for Nucleus Network,which is running the Phase 1 and 2 studies of the Novavax vaccine as well as for the UQ/ CSL candidate,said the deal announced by the federal government did not detract from the deals already announced.

Rather,Dr Griffin said,it boosted Australia’s “vaccine portfolio”.

“This gives us additional options and given they’re slightly different technologies they’re very complimentary to the two vaccines we already have an agreement for,” he said.

The vaccine candidates secured by Australia

Newly announced:

Novavax- 40 million doses - currently in stage 2 and 3 clinical trials
Pfizer- 10 million doses - currently in stage 2 and 3 clinical trials

Previously announced:

UQ/CSL - 51 million doses - currently in an expanded stage 1 clinical trial
University of Oxford/ AstraZeneca - 33.8 million doses - currently in stage 2 and 3 clinical trials

“Having an arrangement now for four vaccines gives us a better chance of having a vaccine that’s likely to be as effective as possible and hopefully next year.”

The Novavax vaccine candidate works in a similar way to the UQ version,in that both use a slightly different technique to generate a protein that looks like the protein on the surface of SARS-CoV-2,causing an immune response in humans.

The Pfizer vaccine meanwhile uses “messenger RNA” (mRNA) - molecules that,when injected,cause the body’s own cells to generate the viral protein,which then generates the immune response.

The University of Oxford/AstraZeneca candidate uses a different way again,using a harmless viral “shell” containing the genetic code for the COVID-19 virus spike protein,which it then produces in the body and generates the immune response.

Australian microbiologist Dr Paul Griffin is running trials of two of the vaccines in Australia's"portfolio"of candidates. — Australian microbiologist Dr Paul Griffin is running trials of two of the vaccines in Australia's "portfolio" of candidates.Credit:Justin McManus

People will likely need two doses each of the Novavax vaccine which is why there has been 40 million doses ordered by the Commonwealth compared to 10 million of the Pfizer candidate.

Dr Griffin said the clinical trials for both the vaccines he was working with were progressing well,with the Novavax candidate likely to be ready as early as April,while other candidates will become ready later in 2021.

“Certainly with all the results that we have so far it looks like[the Novavax candidate] may be one that is safe and effective,” he said.

“The big thing to remember with the availability of a vaccine is that it’s clearly the critical step we need,but the day one of these vaccines is approved for use it’s not going to be like flicking a switch and returning to normal.

“It will be a huge step in the right direction but we’re still going to need some basic infection control and mitigation running in parallel while we deal with the complex rollout to get these vaccines to everybody.”

University of New South Wales infectious diseases expert Raina MacIntyre said she would like to see Australia add even more vaccines to its portfolio.

“In my view,we should diversify further,” Professor MacIntyre said.

“In the case of a vaccine against a new disease,until vaccines are rolled out in the post-licensure phase,we won’t know which ones are the safest and most efficacious."

Kylie Quinn from RMIT University agreed,and said the Novavax vaccine could give protection to a particularly vulnerable group.

“A similar vaccine for influenza is being tested by Novavax in a Phase III clinical trial specifically in older individuals,” Dr Quinn said.

“The trial is still ongoing but initial results showed that the Novavax vaccine generated larger immune responses in older people as compared to the standard flu vaccine.

“The key thing here is that Australia is positioning itself to have more vaccines in its tool-kit.”

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