Australia’s audit office will probe the Morrison government’s $2 billion deal with US pharmaceutical giant Moderna to set up vaccine manufacturing in Australia as the firm races to meet its promised timeline while a spurned local rival begins shipping COVID jabs overseas.
This masthead can reveal only two credible bids emerged from the tender process: CSL and Moderna, a pandemic darling whose stock price is now about a 10th of its 2021 peak. In defending his government’s actions on a quantum computing deal, Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic has questioned the Moderna deal.“CSL believed the inclusion of additional technologies within an existing facility would be more cost-effective than a greenfield site, whilst leveraging the expertise of a global company with a proud Australian heritage,” the spokesman said in a statement.
“They consulted and negotiated with Moderna while doing a call for an expression of interest in building mRNA manufacturing. They criticised us, saying we backed PsiQuantum instead of local firms, and yet they chose Moderna over CSL, an Australian firm. They did that.” CSL has made major strides in the technology in the years since the pandemic. It has developed so-called self-amplifying mRNA: vaccines that contain genetic code that essentially allows the body to make more vaccine, allowing for smaller doses.