NSW will have 200,000 Pfizer doses a week by the end of July

Pfizer Covid vaccine doses sent to NSW will be doubled to 200,000 a week by the federal government which is moving to quell a state revolt over a lack of supply.

Pfizer Covid vaccine doses sent to NSW will be doubled to 200,000 a week by the federal government which is moving to quell a state revolt over a lack of supply.

The turbocharging of the vaccine rollout is urgently needed in NSW, as health authorities grapple with an outbreak of the highly infectious Indian Delta variant of Covid-19 in Bondi.

New Zealand last night closed the travel bubble with NSW after the outbreak grew by 10 cases yesterday, with eight of the ill in isolation.

Eligible NSW residents are being urged to book in a vaccine. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

One mystery case was a child at Waverley’s St Charles primary school, while the second was a Bondi Junction shop worker.

A mask mandate was ­iss­ued for all indoor venues and public transport across Greater Sydney for at least a week.

“It is only when you are eating or drinking indoors at a venue that you shouldn’t wear a mask,” Premier Gladys ­Berejiklian said.

Premiers have castigated their Canberra counterparts over a failure to secure enough doses with Queensland going as far as to claim it would soon run out.

After a sluggish start to the program and multiple setbacks fuelled by overseas supply chain issues and unforeseen changes to health advice for the AstraZeneca vaccine, a genuine step up in the rollout is finally expected within the next fortnight.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian has welcomed extra Pfizer doses for NSW. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

The Daily Telegraph understands NSW will go from receiving 85,410 doses a week of Pfizer for the rest of June, to 101,790 per week in July.

At the same hundreds of NSW GP clinics, which have only administered AstraZeneca , will be given Pfizer doses for patients aged 40 to 59.

This week Commonwealth-run respiratory GP clinics received 10,440 Pfizer doses, which will increase to 19,140 next week and continue to grow as more practices are brought on board to deliver a share of 104,880 jabs by the final week of July.

This means by the end of July there will be more than 200,000 Pfizer doses a week available for NSW residents.

It is hoped the dramatic ­uptick in supply will appease states, of which Victoria and Queensland have been the most vocal in accusing the federal government of being too slow to secure Pfizer supplies.  

A mass vaccination hub in Sydney’s Olympic Park has been administering more than 30,000 jabs a week. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

Ms Berejiklian has not gone as far as her state counterparts, but the NSW Government has frequently raised concerns the states’s rollout efforts were being hampered by a lack of Pfizer.

Ms Berejiklian this week discussed Pfizer supplies with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and said on Tuesday she was satisfied with the government’s commitment every state will get an allocation based on their population.

“That is what I have been arguing since day one,” she said.

NSW is unable to purchase vaccine doses directly, and ­instead relies on supplies ­delivered by Canberra.

“The Commonwealth has leveraged its greater purchasing power in a highly competitive market for Covid-19 vaccines to ensure the best possible deal for all Australians,” a health department spokesman said.

But Labor’s health spokesman Mark Butler said states still relied on the Commonwealth to supply vaccines “in a timely way”.

“It’s quite clear … Liberal and Labor premiers alike (and) GPs are frustrated at the slow of rolling out of these vaccines,” he said.

Mr Butler said the rollout, which has recently averaged about 100,000 vaccinations a day nationally, was “nowhere near” where it needed to be.

“GP clinics are simply not getting enough,” he said.

Covid-19 task force leader Lieutenant General John Frewen has this week been working with states to publicly release more vaccine data, including forward supply allocations, in an effort to bring greater transparency to the rollout.

Lt Gen Frewen wrote to premiers on Tuesday about the issue and is expected to release the nation-wide data within days.