In news that I am (probably unreasonably) devastated about, the AstraZeneca vaccine will no longer be made in Australia following months of excessive skepticism around its effectiveness.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is locally made in Australia by biotechnology company CSL, and despite being safe, effective, and cleared by the Therapeutic Goods Association (TGA), it’s received undue criticisms that tarnished the public’s perception of the vaccine.
The fear mongering around AZ reached the point where Queensland’s own *actual* Chief Health Officer (!!!) Jeannette Young told people aged under 40 not to get AZ.
Well, now the vaccine will likely stop being produced once the current order is finished, 9 News reports, due to preferences for Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
It’s the beginning of the end for Australian-made vaccines, with production of AstraZeneca to be suspended by Christmas.#9News can reveal the vaccine will no longer be made here – the safe and effective jab finally succumbing to the scare campaign.@cokeefe9 has the details. pic.twitter.com/hBANMB7vQz
— 9News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) October 13, 2021
“Notwithstanding the perhaps disproportionate criticism that this vaccine’s reputation has experienced, we couldn’t be prouder that the AstraZeneca vaccine has given protection to many millions of Australians,” CSL’s Chairman told investors, per 9 News.
“Obviously we don’t want to be manufacturing something that’s not going to be utilised and we will have a number of options heading into the future,” Associate Professor Paul Griffin from the University of Queensland told 9News.
Almost 12.5 million (12,431,618) doses of AstraZeneca have been administered to people across Australia, compared to 18.6 million (18,591,613) doses of Pfizer and 335,378 shots of Moderna.
I’m proud to say that two of those 12.5 million doses were injected into my arm earlier this year, in accordance with health advice at the time, and if it wasn’t for AZ, my state of NSW would not have reached 90% first dose this week.
RIP, the production of AstraZeneca. You may soon be gone, but my immune system will not forget you.
