The national drug regulator has approved the Novavax vaccine, as well as two oral treatments for vulnerable patients with COVID-19.
While the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has given it the green light, Novavax still has to get final approval from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI), which will decide who the vaccine will be made available to.
The government has ordered 51 million doses of the vaccine.
Head of the TGA John Skerritt said Novavax had been approved as a two-dose vaccine for the primary course of vaccination, with doses three weeks apart.
"I know there is interest in the potential for Novavax being used as a booster or even an adolescence paediatric dose … as we have with all vaccines, as soon as we get the data, we will review it as an absolute top priority," he said.
Professor Skerritt said he was aware there were some people who had been waiting for the vaccine's approval before getting a jab, and hoped that this would lead to an even further increase in the overall vaccination rate.
"The technology on which it is made is an older technology, it uses a protein," he said.
"I would have had several hundred emails from individuals and groups who have said for whatever reason we would like to have [this] particular vaccine … this just gives them further choice."
Anti-viral pills added to treatment options
Pfizer's Paxlovid and Merck Sharp & Dohme's Lagevrio are the first oral medicines for the virus to be approved for use in Australia by the TGA.
Around 800,000 courses of the anti-viral pills are expected to arrive in the country in the coming weeks.
Each medication is a five-day course, with pills taken twice a day, for people with a mild to moderate case of COVID.
The TGA emphasised that these treatments are not a replacement for vaccinations. which remain the most effective way to prevent severe illness and death from COVID.
"Either medicine should be administered as soon as possible after diagnosis of COVID-19 and within 5 days of the start of symptoms," it said.
It is designed to try and stop someone's condition progressing to a more severe stage and works by interfering with the virus's ability to multiply within the patient's body.
But Professor Skerritt said the medicines were not suitable for all vulnerable groups, for instance they are not recommended for those looking to conceive, who are pregnant or breastfeeding children or those with severe kidney or liver function issues.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said patients would be able to get the pills either through a prescription from their GP or in hospital.
"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."
The government has bought 500,000 doses of Paxlovid and 300,000 of Lagevrio.
Australia already has two other treatments approved for use by the TGA, sotrovimab and remdesivir.
Unlike Paxlovid and Lagevrio, they need to be administered intravenously via a cannula by a healthcare professional.
Mr Hunt said the newly-approved medications complement these already available treatments.
"It builds on what we're already doing through the intravenous or hospital treatments" Minister Hunt said.
