Thanks to a confidential $2 billion manufacturing contract, Moderna mRNA vaccines made at a new Australian facility are exempt from a key regulatory process, The Guardian has discovered.

Doses produced at a newly-opened, specially built plant at Melbourne’s Monash University do not have to be assessed by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC). This independent advisory group recommends medications and vaccines for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, under which Australians receive government-subsidized medications.

PBAC’s assessment is “a key step in ensuring government-purchase