Paul Kelly denies government dropped the ball on Moderna contract

The chief medical officer has denied dropping the ball by failing to secure a contract for Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, but says a deal “remains on the table” as Australia scrambles to develop a new rollout strategy.

The federal government was forced to abandon all vaccination targets over revelations the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was set to make up the bulk of its rollout, was not advised for people aged under 50.

The development prompted criticism from Labor which accused the government of failing to strike deals with enough manufacturers, including Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

Both jabs were part of the rollout plan in the US, where over 100 million residents have received at least one dose.

But chief medical officer Paul Kelly on Monday said Australia had prioritised another mRNA jab, the Pfizer vaccine, based on the information at the time.

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“Moderna was a small company, it was just starting up. It looked like a very, very good prospect otherwise. But (it was) in many ways very similar to Pfizer,” he said.

“Nothing against Moderna. It was just tossing up one or the other, and we needed to have at least one of those types of vaccines, so we went from there.”

He would not confirm the status of talks with Moderna, but insisted a deal “remained on the table”.

A day after the AstraZeneca revelations, the federal government announced it had struck a deal to double its Pfizer order to 40 million doses, to arrive by the end of the year.

Professor Kelly said the government had received “regular supply” of the vaccine since mid-February, but would not reveal how many doses had arrived onshore each week.

He confirmed 12,207 vaccine were administered on Sunday, taking the nation’s total to 1,178,302.

Australia trails, and its vaccine rollout was ranked 76th out of 151 countries by the Financial Times.

Professor Kelly claimed he was not aware of that ranking, but said Australia trailed a number of other nations forced to expedite their rollouts by out-of-control caseloads.

It comes as Labor health spokesman Mark Butler lashed the government for abandoning vaccine targets after the AstraZeneca jab was deemed unsuitable for people aged under 50.

The government on Sunday walked back a claim from Trade Minister Dan Tehan the new aim was to vaccinate all Australians by the end of the year, though delays were possible.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison clarified it was “not possible to set such targets given the many uncertainties involved”.

Mr Butler warned on Monday “you can’t have a plan without targets” and said the comments had undermined business confidence.

“Targets may well change, (but) then the Prime Minister needs to come clean with Australians about what the changes (are) and what the reasons for those changes are,” he said.

“You can’t have a plan without targets. It is simply not a plan. Australians need to know how this is progressing.

“They need to have economic confidence that getting their businesses up and running, getting jobs going again, being able to travel first of all within Australia and ultimately overseas, as well to make those plans with confidence.”