Moderna Group intends to open a factory for messenger RNA vaccines in Melbourne, Australia, in a first step of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, according to the Australian website, The Age.
The project will take place at Monash University, one of the largest universities in the country, with the goal of producing 100 million doses of vaccine against COVID-19, influenza and other diseases per year.
The Spikefax vaccine from Moderna against the Corona virus was one of the first vaccines working with messenger RNA technology that was developed during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Agence France-Presse.
These vaccines, which can be developed quickly, use a molecule that helps the body recognize and repel a pathogen such as Covid-19, unlike traditional baits that contain a small part of the virus or bacteria.
Construction of the Moderna plant is expected to start this year, and it will be completed in 2024.
For Australia, this project is not only a health and science issue, but also a “national security issue” after the shortage of vaccines that the country suffered during the pandemic, according to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Melbourne, where the plant will be located, has seen one of the longest closures in the world to contain the virus.
The most important lesson to be drawn from the pandemic, according to Albanese, is: “We should make more products here. We cannot always think that it is normal to be at the end of the global supply chain.”
“In this part of the world and in a region that is experiencing the fastest growth in human history, we have opportunities to have this capacity in the Indo-Pacific region,” the Prime Minister said.
Australia has recorded record levels of Covid-19 cases in recent months after easing restrictions imposed to combat the pandemic. This virus became the third cause of death in the country in 2022.