10/12/2024
“Australians will be offered respiratory vaccines from next year without the usual assessment that ensures they are the most effective available at the best possible price, under the confidential $2bn onshore manufacturing deal the Morrison government struck with Moderna.
The agreement exempts Moderna’s mRNA vaccines from assessment by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, a government memorandum has revealed.
The contract signed with the American pharmaceutical company in 2021 commits successive Australian governments to buying locally produced Moderna vaccines for at least a decade.
Comprised of medical experts, the PBAC is a key step in ensuring government-purchased vaccines are confirmed as the safest and best quality for their required task, at a reasonable price.
The memorandum says the Moderna vaccines “will not go through the … PBAC process and therefore will not be listed as designated vaccines on the National Immunisation Program”. PBAC assessment is required for inclusion in the program, now the vehicle for providing vaccines to Australians free of charge.
Under the Moderna deal, the government will pay an undisclosed price for an undisclosed percentage of the up to 100m vaccine doses to be produced at the plant every year.
The international executive medical director of CSL Sequiris, Dr Jonathan Anderson, said: “The proposed regulation is deeply concerning because we risk creating two systems for the National Immunisation Program (NIP) without the usual comparative assessments of clinical and health economic data.
“If we don’t compare vaccines using the same transparent processes, we risk eroding trust that our funded programs will give access to the best vaccine at a good price for the taxpayer.”
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This deal is just straight out corruption. An abuse of power if ever I have seen it.
Safety checks bypassed, upfront guaranteed payments and confidentiality conditions applied around volume and pricing.
Morrison, Frydenberg and Hunt should go to the National Anti-Corruption Commission for this. Along with Butler and Albanese for backing it in.
This contract epitomises everything wrong with governments today. All the risk, both financially and in regard to safety are bourne by the people while all the benefits go to a foreign corporation in complete secrecy.
Democracy is about putting the PeopleFirst not Foreign Corporations. Why should we be guinea pigs for Big Pharma?
It’s no wonder everyday Australians have had a gutful of the major parties when they see this sort of largess.
