New Delhi: Amid the worsening Coronavirus situation, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that the country has secured access to a promising COVID-19 vaccine and once manufactured, it would offer "free doses to the entire population." ALSO READ | This Is What ICMR Said About Emergency Authorisation For Covid-19 Vaccine And Testing From Gargled Water


According to an AFP report, Australia after reaching a deal with Swedish-British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, said that getting the jab should be "as mandatory as you can possibly make it".

"We're talking about a pandemic that has destroyed the global economy and taken the lives of hundreds of thousands all around the world," PM Morrison said, as quoted by AFP.

As per the reports, the government estimates that up to 95 percent of the population would need to be immune to the virus for it to be irradiated.

"We need the most extensive and comprehensive response to this to get Australia back to normal," Morrison added.

Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday made some clarifications over the emergency authorisation of COVID-19 vaccine and gargled water (saliva) testing cleared by the FDA in United States for rapid detection of the deadly virus.

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While speaking in front of a Parliamentary panel, ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava said that an emergency authorisation of a vaccine could be considered if the Centre decides so. While making his point, he also informed the panel that phase-two clinical trial of two indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine candidates have almost been completed.

The one being handled by the Serum Institute of India and developed by Oxford University will enter phase-2 (b) trials this weekend for which 1,700 patients have been identified at 17 centres across the country, the MP said further.