This video describes how COVID-19 vaccines have been able to safely be developed and rolled out quicker than other vaccines.
Vaccines are an effective way to protect us from diseases like COVID-19, preventing death and serious illness.
Vaccines can take a long time to develop, because they must undergo multiple phases of clinical trials.
Researchers around the world have been working hard to develop COVID-19 vaccines from the very early stages of the pandemic.
They have been able to speed up development of vaccines without compromising safety and effectiveness.
Thanks to the collaboration between scientists, researchers, manufacturers and distributors, the development and implementation planning phases have been run side-by side, instead of one after the other.
Research into how to respond to a pandemic has been ongoing, long before COVID-19.
This research looks at data from previous coronaviruses such as SARS in 2002 and MERS in 2012, giving researchers a head start to build the COVID-19 vaccines.
Thanks to our community maintaining COVID-Safe behaviours like good hand hygiene and physical distancing, we have had more time to test vaccines for use in Australia while still keeping us safe from the virus.
Our scientists are still working quickly and have been able to deliver our first vaccine, but no corners have or will be cut.
In Australia, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, or the TGA, has been rigorously assessing the potential COVID-19 vaccines for safety, quality and effectiveness.
They will continue to do this with the remaining vaccines before they will be approved and made available to Australians this year.
Once approved, each batch must also be checked to make sure it meets the same quality standards.
All these steps are important before the vaccinations begin.
To learn more visit health.gov.au
