Health officials and experts are assessing what to do with the tens of millions of COVID-19 vaccines Australia has purchased but does not need, with concerns some may simply go to waste.

Of the roughly 255 million vaccine doses the federal government has purchased, less than a quarter — roughly 60 million — have been administered around the country.

A further roughly 40 million doses have been donated around the Indo-Pacific region.

Some vaccine supplies, particularly Novavax, have hardly been touched.

Even with the increased uptake of fourth doses, Australia will be left with an enormous number of vaccines purchased but not required, particularly as variant-specific vaccines are procured and rolled out.

Health Minister Mark Butler has ordered a review of Australia's vaccine agreements, to be led by former Health Department secretary Jane Halton, which will look at what to do with excess vaccine supplies.

"If it does turn out that we have a surplus, then I'd want to have a range of options in front of us as to what to do with any surplus vaccines we were contractually required to take," he told a press conference announcing the review.

The federal government bought a range of vaccine options to provide cover should one or more fail to work, and built into that plan was the likelihood that if most worked, there would be plenty of doses left over.

Some experts argue while the early months of the pandemic were undoubtedly filled with uncertainty, it is clear Australia and other rich nations ordered far too many vaccines.

They argue the over-ordering of vaccines starved poorer countries of early access to doses, and those countries are still very slowly catching up.

And with a glut of vaccines across the globe, they now might not have anywhere to go.

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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-18/australia-covid-vaccine-surplus-options/101237430