Covid 19 Delta outbreak: Australia to stop producing AstraZeneca vaccine

A vial of of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. Photo / AP

It's the "beginning of the end" for the AstraZeneca vaccine, with production of the jab on Australian shores to be suspended by Christmas.

The vaccine will no longer be made in Australia, 9 News reports, with the safe and effective jab finally succumbing to months of hesitancy, after being linked to an extremely rare blood clotting side effect.

Demand for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines has now rendered the vaccine irrelevant.

"Obviously we don't want to manufacture something that's not going to be utilised, and we will have a number of options moving into the future," University of Queensland Associate Professor Paul Griffin told the network.

Australia to cease making AstraZenaca. Federal Government won’t extend current contact, and current order will be finished around Christmas. @9NewsAUS https://t.co/xPCwpGSVYA

— Chris O'Keefe (@cokeefe9) October 13, 2021

"It obviously has received a lot of negative press and it's a vaccine that has proven highly effective and very safe."

Once the current order is complete, it's expected the vaccine's Melbourne manufacturer, CSL, will cease production, and the Federal Government will "almost certainly" not extend the contract beyond this year.

"Notwithstanding the perhaps disproportionate criticism that this vaccine's reputation has experienced, we couldn't be prouder that the AstraZeneca vaccine has given protection to many millions of Australians," CSL chairman Brian McNamee told investors.

Almost 12.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca jab have been given to Australians.