Australia says coronavirus vaccine at least 10 months away

A vaccine for the novel coronavirus could be manufactured in Australia by the end of this year or early next year, Australian Science Minister Karen Andrews said on Monday, reiterating a Covid-19 vaccine is the country’s only ticket to a return to pre-virus life.

“It’s entirely possible that by the end of this year or early next year we will have a vaccine for COVID-19,” she said.

“It’s possible we (will) have a vaccine in the next 10-15 months.”

Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is testing separate vaccines from the United States and the United Kingdom.

“Testing is expected to take about three months,” a CSIRO spokesperson said.

“CSIRO is testing the COVID-19 vaccine candidates for efficacy, but also evaluating the best way to give the vaccine for better protection, including an intra-muscular injection and innovative approaches like a nasal spray.”

“CSIRO is carefully balancing operating at speed with the critical need for safety in response to this global public health emergency.”

Researchers at the University of Queensland are also looking for a third vaccine with the “incredibly ambitious” goal of having a working prototype by September.

Project leader Trent Munro said the September goal was a realistic possibility, but that there were many more hurdles their drug had to jump through before it was available to the Australian public, and that it would not be available for widespread use until 2021.

CSIRO director of health and biosecurity Rob Grenfell said it was important to make sure the vaccine did not make the disease worse, as was found when working with SARS.

“So it’s very important particularly in the context of this disease that we examine our animal model very carefully for this effect, and its all to do with an overreaction of certain arms of the immune system,” he said.

“It’s a separate immune system, if you like, which isn’t easily accessible by vaccine technology … It’s a bit like trying to get a vaccine to kill a virus on the surface of your skin,” said University of Queensland Professor Ian Frazer, who helped develop the human papilloma virus vaccine.

Science Minister Karen Andrews said Australia was collaborating with international partners to find a working vaccine as quickly as possible.

“The scientific community right across the world is united as one to make sure that there is a vaccine discovered, developed, tested as soon as there possibly can,” she said.

Minister Andrews said the quick development of a vaccine was vital to easing restrictions.

“Quite frankly, until such time as we have a vaccine, life is not going to return to normal,” she said.

“So whilst we have seen some easing of restrictions, particularly over the last weekend, we still have a long way to go and it’s very important that we all take baby steps.”