SunstarTV Bureau: Australia pioneers the production of a Covid-19 vaccine candidate developed by the University of Oxford with a rough estimation of 30 million doses planned to be manufactured.
Production will take place at Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL)’s bioreactor facility in the State of Victoria. The manufacturing process is beginning by thawing vials containing vaccine cells which had been frozen under liquid nitrogen.
#Australia on Monday began the local production of a #COVID19 vaccine candidate developed by the @UniofOxford , with roughly 30 million doses planned to be manufactured pic.twitter.com/aHCXeo7Bpo
— IANS Tweets (@ians_india) November 9, 2020
Australian biotech firm CSL has signed agreements with AstraZeneca and the government to begin pre-emptive production of the vaccine. The release aims to occur during the first half of 2021.
According to Xinhua news agency reports, the vaccine is still undergoing clinical-trials; it was co-developed by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, and considered as one of the most promising vaccines globally.
Chief Scientific Officer, Andrew Nash said, “We are undertaking these manufacturing activities at-risk and in parallel with the clinical trials and approvals processes in recognition of the significant urgency of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The company has elaborated the manufacturing process -After growing in the bioreactors, the vaccine is then filtered and purified leaving just the antigen, or vaccine product. It is then ready for the final formulation and filling into dosage vials.
CSL had already manufactured several doses of another Covid-19 vaccine candidate developed by Australia’s University of Queensland (UQ), which it is holding in readiness to progress to Phase 2b/3 clinical trials.
