CANBERRA, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Australia's medical regulator has approved the Novavax vaccine and two oral treatments for COVID-19.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) on Thursday announced Novavax's Nuvaxovid has been given the green light as a two-dose vaccine for the primary course of inoculation in Australia, meaning it has not yet been approved as a booster.
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) will make a final decision on which age groups will be eligible to receive Nuvaxovid.
The federal government has ordered 51 million doses of the vaccine.
Recipients will receive their first and second doses three weeks apart.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said he was hopeful that the minority of Australians who have not yet been vaccinated against COVID-19 will come forward for Nuvaxovid when it is made available "over the coming weeks."
"We have a first dose national vaccination rate of 95.2 percent, and we know that some people have waited for Novavax, and although we have encouraged everyone to proceed, we recognize that that's a fact. So hopefully this will encourage those people in the less than last 5 percent to come forward," he told reporters.
The TGA also announced approval for Pfizer's Paxlovid and Merck Sharp and Dohme's Lagevrio, making them the first oral medicines for COVID-19 approved for use in Australia.
Australia has ordered 800,000 courses of the medications, which Hunt said would be made available through prescriptions for people with mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms.
Patients who are prescribed the antiviral pills will take two a day for five days, reducing their chances of developing severe symptoms and requiring hospitalization.
"A course of them will help the most vulnerable, particularly some of our older Australians who have always been at more risk from COVID," Hunt said.
"They will help people who are at risk of going from mild to moderate symptoms and deemed by medical professionals to have the risk of progression to more serious conditions," he said.
Australia on Thursday reported more than 70,000 locally-acquired coronavirus infections and 60 deaths, 25 in New South Wales, 15 in Victoria, 11 in South Australia and nine in Queensland.
According to the Department of Health, there were 5,307 cases being treated in Australian hospitals on Wednesday, including 424 in intensive care units. ■