The vast majority of Australians under 50 were to receive AstraZeneca jabs produced at a factory in Melbourne operated by biotech company CSL. CSL has a contract to produce 50 million doses but it is now not known whether that many will be needed given many people have been advised not to take it. Australia has a contract for 20 million Pfizer doses and hopes to start using its third option — a vaccine made by US pharmaceutical company Novavax — in the third quarter of this year. However Novavax is running behind in signing a contract with the European Union because of raw material shortage and its partner in India, the Serum Institute, has pushed back the vaccine's planned launch from June to September.