Australia Set To Throw Out Millions Of Covid Vaccines

Millions of Covid vaccines are set to be thrown out as Australia’s stock nears its expiry date.

The government purchased 255 million vaccinations with less than one quarter of those vaccinations used.

Australia now has no use for the vaccinations and no countries or companies to donate the vaccinations to.

The government made a large order for the newer Novavax vaccination following its approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration in January of 2022.

Stay up-to-date on the latest news with The VIC Briefing - keeping you in the loop with the region’s breaking news as it hits.  

Only a small number of vaccinations from this order were actually used leaving at least 99 percent of the stockpile unused.

This means only 162,000 doses of the 51 million were actually used.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler told 3AW in an interview that the demand for Covid vaccinations has significantly decreased.

“We don't need to be vaccinating 200,000 people a day across the country in the way we did at the peak of the middle of last year because we were so far behind,” he said.  

“We really were far behind the rest of the developed world. It took us a while to catch up. Now you're seeing a much lower number of vaccinations being delivered every day.

“The real challenge is to get people lining up to get it. There's more than five million people who are overdue their third dose, so it's more than six months since they had their second dose. They're still overdue their third dose and I encourage them to go out and get it.”

Stay up-to-date on the latest news with Your Morning Agenda - supported by a network of local journalists from all major Australian cities, ensuing timely and first hand insights on local stories: 

Download LiSTNR and enjoy a new world of audio. All your favourite shows and stations in one library.