Australia's CSL reaffirms commitment to making AstraZeneca COVID vaccine

(Reuters) - Australian biotech CSL said on Thursday it was committed to its agreement for the production of about 50 million doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine into 2022.

The announcement came after a media report said the British drugmaker's vaccine, Vaxzevria, will no longer be manufactured in Australia due to demand for vaccines of Pfizer and Moderna. [nL4N2R91XR]

Pfizer and Moderna have established a market dominance by using mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine technology to fight the pandemic.

CSL, in a brief statement, added that more than 20 million of the doses have already been produced, and it is expected that the remaining production will be completed early next year.

Cafes, gyms and restaurants in Sydney welcomed back fully vaccinated customers earlier this week after nearly four months of a lockdown, as Australia aims to begin living with the coronavirus and gradually reopen with high rates of inoculation.

(Reporting by Indranil Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)