Non-Protein Based COVID-19 Vaccine Still a Time Off, Says Australian Industry Minister

A woman holds a small bottle labeled with a "Vaccine COVID-19" sticker and a medical syringe in this illustration taken on April 10, 2020. Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters

Australian Cabinet minister Karen Andrews has warned that non-protein based vaccines for COVID-19 may take longer to produce than other ones.

The minister for Industry, Science, and Technology said biotech company CSL already produced protein-based vaccines and would be in a position to start rolling out a COVID-19 vaccine straight away once it was approved.

Minister for Science and Technology Karen Andrews speaks during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House on February 11, 2020 in Canberra, Australia. Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images

However, she said there was still significant work to do if the vaccine needed to be non-protein based and it could take longer to roll-out.

“I would hope that we would be able to do it in about the nine-month to 12-month time frame, but I think we need to be really conscious that with a vaccine, there are a lot of variables in there,” she told ABC television’s Insiders program.

“So we don’t have the vaccine proven at this point in time, we don’t know what the base for that vaccine is going to be, so we are trying to prepare across a wide range.”

Forecasts in this month’s budget were based on a coronavirus vaccine being in wide use by the end of next year.

By Colin Brinsden