Labor orders review of Covid vaccine contracts signed under Coalition

Health minister Mark Butler says focus will be on future needs, not looking back at rights and wrongs of former government

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Covid vaccine contracts signed under the former Coalition government could be altered or scrapped by the new Labor administration, with the health minister, Mark Butler, calling a review of jab supplies as a matter of urgency" in the face of emerging virus variants.

Following criticism of the Morrison government's delay in signing contracts with mRNA vaccine manufacturers and a sluggish initial rollout, Butler said the review - to be chaired by the former health department secretary Jane Halton - would compare Australia's purchasing processes with those of other nations.

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