Vaccinations ramp up as QLD gets thousands more doses

Close to another 60,000 vaccine doses are on the way to Queensland in the next 10 days, even as the state is yet to give out the allocation it received for the first week.

Close to another 60,000 vaccine doses are on the way to Queensland in the next 10 days, even as the state is yet to give out the allocation it received for the first week.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt revealed that 300,000 more doses of Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines would now be made available to the states, including 57,000 to Queensland.

It is compared to 86,000 in NSW, 76,000 for Victoria, about 30,000 doses for WA and South Australia.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said Queensland will get another 57,000 vaccine doses in the next 10 days. Picture: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

Mr Hunt said the split was based on population of the states, while he expected the rollout to start ramping up.

“The states and territories will begin the rollout of the AstraZeneca doses, so they will

be vastly expanding the array of their activities over the course of the next week to 10 days,” he said.

Figures obtained by The Courier-Mail show NSW had delivered 10,084 vaccinations by February 27, 72 per cent of its 14,040 allocation received last Monday.

Queensland had delivered 2030 vaccinations to frontline workers in that time, just 22 per cent of its 9360 allocation received, as of the end of last week.

State Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said defended the rollout saying the state set itself a target of 2000 doses for the first week – which it had met.

Mr Hunt said the country was still on track for all Australians who wanted vaccination to have received the first of two doses by the end of October, despite early issues.

“This is a progressive rollout,” he said.

“It’s being done that way for reasons of safety and security.”