The next generation of Australian vaccine workers will be trained out of a new centre in Melbourne’s southeast.

The Monash Centre for Advanced mRNA Medicines Manufacturing and Workforce Training in Clayton is receiving a $10 million grant from the Victorian government.

It will train Australia’s future mRNA workforce and complement Moderna’s nearby mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility, the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere.

Once completed in 2024, the manufacturing site will be capable of producing 100 million vaccine doses a year.

Premier Daniel Andrews said Melbourne was among the great global cities of science, but funding was needed to train more staff.

“If you don’t have the staff with the competency and with the confidence to do this work, to make these breakthroughs … then that ecosystem will always be held back,” he told reporters on Thursday.

In October, BioNTech also agreed in principle with the state government to develop a clinical-scale mRNA manufacturing facility in Melbourne.

– AAP