The Moderna laboratory announced on Monday the opening of a messenger RNA vaccine factory in Melbourne, Australia, a first in the southern hemisphere.
The project will be based at one of the country's leading universities, Monash, and will produce 100 million doses of vaccine per year, against Covid-19, influenza and other diseases.
Moderna's Spikevax against the coronavirus was among the first vaccines to use the new technology called messenger RNA developed during the Covid pandemic.
These vaccines, which can be developed quickly, use a molecule to teach the body to identify and fight a pathogen, such as Covid-19, unlike traditional vaccines, which contain a small piece of bacteria or virus.
Read alsoModerna to build an RNA vaccine research and production center in the UK
Construction of the Moderna plant is due to begin this year and be completed in 2024. For Australia, this project is not just about health and science, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday, “
but also of national security
” after the severe shortages of vaccine suffered by the country during the pandemic.
Covid-19 cases spike in Australia
Melbourne, which will host the factory, has experienced one of the world's longest lockdowns to contain the virus.
A lesson to be learned from the pandemic, assured Anthony Albanese, is that “
we have to manufacture more things here.
We cannot continue to think that it is normal to be at the end of global supply chains
”.
"
In this part of the world, in the fastest growing region in human history, we also have the opportunity to project this capability into the Indo-Pacific
," he said.
Australia has seen a spike in Covid-19 cases in recent months after restrictions were eased.
The virus has become the third leading cause of death in the country in 2022.
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