AstraZeneca has been the 'global backbone' in vaccinating over 70s

Health Minister Greg Hunt says the only way to guarantee provide of vaccines was through “domestic manufacturing” of “global backbone” AstraZeneca.

He said without the AstraZeneca vaccine “we would be in a very different province of affairs” as Australia has been able to ensure more than 50 per cent of those of 70 were vaccinated.

“It’s a 12-week computer program with AstraZeneca, as it was in the UK, this was the vaccine that was the backbone of the UK computer program,” Mr Hunt told Sky News.

“The advice was very clear which is exactly what we did but because we knew the international provide was constrained, we made sure there was domestic production.

“The two most important things are saving lives and livelihoods, we’ve had one of the most important results in terms of lives saved, 35,000.”