Frustrated experts say Australia could already be producing mRNA Covid vaccines if it had acted earlier

Scientists have been warning the government for months of the need to develop a domestic mRNA capability

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Australia could have been manufacturing vaccines like Pfizer already had it acted early on calls to develop onshore mRNA capability, experts say.

The AstraZeneca announcement on Thursday has left the vaccine rollout in a state of disarray, and heavily reliant on securing more imports of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which has already achieved provisional approval by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.