Emirates airline delivers Australia's first batch of AstraZeneca - in pictures

Flight carried 300,000 doses of AstraZeneca, more than doubling Australia's vaccine supply

An Emirates plane carrying doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine arrives at Sydney International airport. The shipment contained 300,000 doses. Getty

The doses are removed after arriving in Sydney. The Therapeutic Goods Administration will batch-test the shipment before the shots are administered. Getty

Workers remove doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in Sydney. Getty

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is the second Covid-19 shot to arrive in Australia. Getty

Workers unload the doses from an Emirates aircraft. Getty

Emirates airline delivered Australia's first vials of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to Sydney on Sunday morning.

The Emirates flight, which landed at 9.30am local time, carried 300,000 doses of the vaccine, more than doubling Australia's supply of vaccine doses.

AstraZeneca is the second vaccine approved for use in the country, after Pfizer-BioNTech.

The first doses of AstraZeneca will be administered from March 8, government officials said.

Dubai has become a centre for international distribution of coronavirus vaccines after the launch of Vaccine Logistics Alliance, a project that brings together Emirates, DP World, Dubai Airports and International Humanitarian City to deliver two billion doses of vaccine in 2021.