Scott Morrison said Australia's coronavirus vaccination program is on track, with doses of the vaccine being made in Melbourne to roll off the production line "in a matter of weeks".
The prime minister toured the manufacturing plant for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine – one of two types of vaccine bought by Australia – at biotech firm, CSL in Melbourne.
"We are doing it here, in Australia, right here in Melbourne," Mr Morrison said.
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"That is something that few prime ministers and presidents around the world can say."
More than a million doses will be manufactured each week at the facility, with bottling of the vaccine planned to start on Monday.
The company is working around the clock until 50 million doses are ready but is still awaiting formal approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
CSL said the first doses of its vaccine are on track for release in March.
Before the coronavirus vaccine leaves the manufacturing facility, scientists, "check it and they check it and then they check it again", according to the prime minister.
"When you go to your GP clinic or the place that you will go to get your vaccination, you can have great confidence, not just in the vaccine itself but the Australian production process," Mr Morrison said.
"It is another important day today, that final phase of that production process starts here Monday."
Production has been underway at the Broadmeadows plant since late last year.
From next week, the final manufacturing phase will begin at CSL's Seqirus facility in Parkville.
"We start our last phase of production on Monday in terms of getting those really important doses into vials and ready for final roll-out," General Manager of Seqirus, a CSL company, Stephen Marlow told Today.
"Our plan is we will have doses available for release at the end of March, which is fantastic. It is ahead of schedule so we are pretty pleased with where we are right now."
The vaccine is formulated to a precise concentration, before being repeatedly filtered and filled into vials ahead of labelling and packing, the company says.
At the same time, each batch of finished vaccine will undergo an extensive quality check process – by CSL, by AstraZeneca, and by the TGA.
He's confident approval by the TGA will come "soon", he said.
"The TGA have a job to do. They are thorough. We have world-class regulators and they will do their job. Certainly we are buoyed by news that the World Health Organisation recently approved the vaccine for older groups," Mr Marlow, said.
"The AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved in a lot of countries. We are getting good data from the UK so we are hopeful to get the approval soon."
The firm is expected to release two million doses at the end of March, and then one million doses per week.
The vaccine is "flexible" and could be adapted to suit other variants of the virus, he said.
Also, the CSL facility set to manufacture millions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine could switch to other more effective vaccines if necessary, Health Minister Greg Hunt has said.
"What we have learnt from CSL is that CSL can do just about anything," he said.
Meanwhile, the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines are set to arrive here by early next week after the European Commission formally approved a shipment to leave the European Union.
Earlier this week Dr Michael Pulch, the EU's Ambassador to Australia said Australian orders of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine would progress "as foreseen".
Older Australians and health care and hotel quarantine workers would be first in line for the jab, as soon as later this month.
Health Minister Greg Hunt confirmed the three stages of Australia's vaccination program are all on track.
"We are on track for the Pfizer vaccine to commence in late February," he said.
"On track for the AstraZeneca International – subject to the TGA's approval – to commence in early March.
"And most significantly, on track for the AstraZeneca/CSL, Australian-made vaccine to commence, as the Prime Minister said, in late March."
The vaccination program is set to be completed by the end of October.
So far, Australia is the only continent, alongside Antarctica, which has not started coronavirus vaccinations.
