Many nations across the globe continue to give emergency approvals of the COVID-19 vaccines but acting Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly says that mechanism does not exist in Australia.
International regulators have been giving emergency approvals to the Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Moderna vaccines in order to fast-track immunisation in countries with out-of-control coronavirus outbreaks.
Health Minister Greg Hunt has previously indicated Australian frontline workers will be able to receive the jab in March with the rest of the country getting the vaccine in October.
Australia's regulator, the TGA, is "not delaying anything" as it does not have any mechanism to initiate an emergency approval of a vaccine, Mr Kelly said.
"Just to be clear, emergency approval is very different from a regular standard full approval," he said.
"All of those emergency approvals that have happened overseas come with very strict guidelines about who can be given it. So, it is a very different process.
"We don't have that process in Australia. We don't have an emergency here in Australia."
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