ILLUSTRATION. A mural entitled Heroes Wear Masks in Melbourne, Australia. The Australian government will distribute the free corona vaccine to 25 million people.
Source: Channel News Asia | Editor: Prihastomo Wahyu Widodo
KONTAN.CO.ID – SYDNEY. Australia officially signed an agreement with a British drug manufacturer, AstraZeneca, in an effort to supply a new corona virus vaccine. Kangaroo country will distribute free corona virus vaccines to 25 million residents.
The agreement with AstraZeneca was realized after national data showed that the number of corona virus cases in Australia began to subside, including in the worst zone in the State of Victoria.
Quoting Channel News Asia, on Tuesday (18/8), Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was ready to distribute the corona virus vaccine for free to its 25 million inhabitants.
Of course, this distribution will only be carried out by the Australian Government after the corona virus vaccine trial by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford has been completed and shows positive results.
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Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt, on Wednesday (19/8), revealed that all citizens will get the corona virus vaccine for free. However, medical personnel will be on the priority list.
“Of course, you will focus on the most vulnerable people, the elderly, health workers, people with disabilities, but I think the distribution will expand,” Hunt told Sky News as reported Channel News Asia.
AstraZeneca has shown good data since last month in its trial efforts for their corona virus vaccine. This factor is also what makes the Australian Government confident to cooperate with these companies.
The vaccine that AstraZeneca is developing is called AZD1222, in collaboration with the University of Oxford, England.
In the past two months, the pandemic has worsened in Australia, especially in the State of Victoria, which has the second largest human population in the land of kangaroos.
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This prompted the local government to impose a curfew since two weeks ago as well as to tighten social restrictions and close most centers of economic activity.
This strict policy is paying off, with the number of cases steadily decreasing in recent days. Now, there is less concern about a second wave of infections.
Victoria reported 216 new cases in the past 24 hours, down from 222 the previous day. Now, Australia has recorded a total of 24,000 cases of the corona virus, with 450 deaths from Covdi-19.
This figure is relatively low when compared to most other large countries.
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