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Mutant COVID strains 'will come' to Australia, expert warns

A leading epidemiologist expert has warned Australians not to hesitate getting the coronavirus vaccines, saying delays could expose them to a higher chance of being infected by a mutant strain.

New statistics published by Nine newspapers found a third of adults are 'unlikely' to get the jab, citing concerns over side effects and the belief there isn't a rush so long as international borders remain closed.

Professor Mary-Louise McLaws, one of Australia's leading epidemiologists, says the results of the survey are "very damaging" to the nation's recovery.

READ MORE: Pandemic riches: COVID-19 vaccine profits mint nine new billionaires

"Yesterday we had an amazing day of 100,000 injections and that's what we need every day for a year to be able to say that we are safe to open our borders," Prof McLaws told Weekend Today.

"When we do open our borders, we will have the 'variants of concern', those very, very transmissible infections.

"I would be going for about 85 per cent of adults (vaccinated)."

She said if one in three are hesitant, that will mean that the Australian population will be at a greater risk of a serious infection.

READ MORE: Nurse backs vaccine after suffering from blood clots

"All we have to do is watch the news and see what's happening in India and see the deaths," she said.

"That's the variant of concern and – in India. It will come to Australia. Other variants will come. The longer we don't get vaccinated, the greater the risk of a mutation."

READ MORE: Hospital staff 'should have checked for blood clots', say SA family

She said the "biggest group" who should be targeted in a vaccine push were the 20 to 39-year-olds.

"Because if we can get them vaccinated the majority of them, then we can ring-fence the rest of the community."

This demographic made up 50 per cent of all COVID cases last year in Australia, particularly during the second wave.

Prof McLaws added the government should be spending more money to encourage vaccinate uptake.

"We need every 20 to 39-year-old hearing an ad that they can identify with," she said.

Results of the survey come after reports that more than 200 GPs have dropped out of the vaccination rollout nationwide over erratic supplies, with many doctors speaking out against allocated vaccine supplies, saying that they have the capacity to administer the vaccines, but not the inventory.

In NSW overnight, the state surpassed one million COVID-19 vaccinations administered; 340,000 given by NSW Health and 725,000 by Commonwealth Government providers and GPs.

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COVID vaccine profits mint nine new billionaires

COVID-19 vaccines have created at least nine new billionaires after shares in companies producing the shots soared.

Topping the list of new billionaires are Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel and Ugur Sahin, the CEO of BioNTech, which has produced a vaccine with Pfizer. Both CEOs are now worth around US$4 billion ($5.17 billion), according to an analysis by the People's Vaccine Alliance, a campaign group that includes Oxfam, UNAIDS, Global Justice Now and Amnesty International.

Senior executives from China's CanSino Biologics and early investors in Moderna have also become billionaires on paper as shares skyrocketed, partly in expectation of profits earned from COVID vaccines, which also bode well for the companies' future prospects. The analysis was compiled using data from the Forbes Rich List.

READ MORE: Wrong supermarket identified as exposure site in coronavirus scare

Moderna's share price has gained more than 700 per cent since February 2020, while BioNTech has surged 600 per cent. CanSino Biologics' stock is up about 440 per cent over the same period. The company's single-dose COVID-19 vaccine was approved for use in China in February.

Activists said the wealth generation highlighted the stark inequality that has resulted from the pandemic. The nine new billionaires are worth a combined US$19.3 billion ($24.94 billion), enough to fully vaccinate some 780 million people in low-income countries, campaigners said.

"These billionaires are the human face of the huge profits many pharmaceutical corporations are making from the monopoly they hold on these vaccines," Anne Marriott, Oxfam's health policy manager, said in a statement. "These vaccines were funded by public money and should be first and foremost a global public good, not a private profit opportunity," she added.

The report coincides with the G20 Global Health Summit taking place on Friday at which world leaders are expected to discuss waiving intellectual property rights on vaccines.

READ MORE: Carnival claims cruise passengers who caught COVID-19 knew the risks

US President Joe Biden has backed the move, which supporters say will help expand the global supply and narrow the vaccination gap between rich and poor countries. Opponents, such as Germany, have argued that protecting intellectual property is vital to innovation and say that removing patents won't meaningfully increase supply due to limited production capacity and insufficient vaccine components.

According to the World Health Organisation, 87 per cent of vaccine doses have gone to high- or upper middle-income countries, while low income countries have received just 0.2 per cent. In a paper published Friday, IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath said that vaccinating 60 per cent of the global population by mid-2022 would cost just US$50 billion ($64.62 billion).

Albert Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer, said during the health summit on Friday that the company will provide 2 billion doses of its vaccine to low- and middle-income countries over the next 18 months. Pfizer expects its sales of the vaccine to total about US$26 billion ($33.6 billion) by the end of this year, with a profit margin approaching 30 per cent.

READ MORE: New York offers $6.4m lottery for newly vaccinated

Bourla has defended the decision to profit from the vaccine, saying his company assumed all the risk to develop it and invested as much as US$2 billion ($2.58 billion) in research and development.

Vaccine billions

BioNTech, which received €325 million ($511.69 million) from the German government for the development of the vaccine, said it is committed to supplying low-income countries with its vaccine at cost. "We all know that no one will be safe until everyone is safe," the company added.

In a statement shared with CNN Business, it said that complex manufacturing processes and the length of time it takes to build new factories are among the major obstacles to increasing the global supply of vaccines. "Patents are not the limiting factor," it said.

BioNTech made a net profit of €1.1 billion ($1.73 billion) in the first three months of the year, largely thanks to its share of sales from the COVID-19 vaccine, compared with a loss of €53.4 million ($84.07 million) for the same period last year.

Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine sales hit US$1.7 billion ($2.2 billion) in the first three months of this year and it had its first profitable quarter ever, the company reported earlier this month. Goldman Sachs expects Moderna to make US$13.2 billion ($17.06 billion) in COVID-19 vaccine revenue in 2021. The company has received billions of dollars in funding from the US government for development of its vaccine.

CanSino Biologics and Moderna did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement last month, Bancel said that Moderna is willing to license its intellectual property to other companies "for the post-pandemic period."

AstraZeneca, which produced a vaccine with researchers at Oxford University, has agreed to provide doses at cost until at least July 2021, and in perpetuity to low and middle-income countries. Johnson & Johnson has also said it will provide its vaccine on a not-for-profit basis, as long as the world continues suffering from the pandemic.