CANBERRA/SYDNEY, Oct 1 (Reuters): To support the reopening of borders and allow more Australians to return, officials expanded the country's list of recognised COVID-19 vaccines.

The addition of China's Sinovac vaccine in particular is expected to give Australia's key international education sector a boost when foreign travellers are allowed to enter the country.

Chinese students, many of whom are likely to have received the Sinovac vaccine, account for a third of a sector that was worth A$35 billion ($25.2 billion) a year to Australia's A$2 trillion economy prior to the pandemic.

Covishield, a version of AstraZeneca's vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India, will also be added to the approved list, joining the three vaccines being administered in Australia - Pfizer (PFE.N), Moderna (MRNA.O) and AstraZeneca (AZN.L).

This is in the true spirit of why Dan started the Vaccine Data Wars thread. The above are the winners.

There are quite a lot of others that don't make the list - Sputnik, for example, Taiwan has one, Medigen, does Japan have a home-grown one? - they all seem pretty good at reducing severity - for 6 months at least - similar side-effect profiles...

That's vaccine politics right there.