Prime Minister Scott Morrison announces 300,000 extra vaccine doses to target covid hot spots

The Prime Minister has announced the government has acquired extra vaccine doses and has a plan on how and where to use them.

Residents across Covid-19 hot spots in Sydney will have access to an extra 300,000 vaccine doses as additional jabs are sent to the worst affected areas next week.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged Sydneysiders across South Western Sydney to get the second dose of their vaccines “as soon as possible” as he announced the Federal Government will be “bringing forward” the additional doses “targeted towards the areas of outbreak”.

Mr Morrison revealed the government has “had some success” in recent days accessing the extra jabs, but wouldn’t go into detail due to “commercial agreements”.

“This means that these additional doses going into Sydney, in particular, will not come at the expense of the ongoing allocations that are being made to other states and territories,” he said.

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Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Sydney on Thursday. Picture: Brendon Thorne

Mr Morrison described the unfolding situation in NSW — which saw its highest number of cases this year today — as “a very serious situation” that has “particularly escalated over the course of recent days”.

“The virus doesn’t move by itself. It moves from person to person. People carry it from one to another,” he said, urging residents to abide by lockdown rules while announcing an emergency Covid-19 payment.

Southwest Sydney has been described as the new ground zero for NSW’s Covid-19 outbreak as New South Wales heads into its third week of lockdown, with Mr Morrison echoing fears things could be about to get a lot worse.

The three local government areas of most concern are Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool where, in the past 48 hours, there have been a total of 21 new coronavirus cases recorded. Mr Morrison revealed in those areas, first dose vaccination rates for over 70s currently sit between 48 and 51 per cent.

Authorities are so concerned about cases emerging from the region that they warned of a spike in numbers in the coming days. There were 37 new cases on Wednesday and 38 new cases on Thursday.

NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant told reporters on Thursday that the areas of concern include Bossley Park, Smithfield, Fairfield, Glenfield, West Hoxton Park, Greenacres, St Johns Park, Bonnyrigg, Bankstown and Roselands.

“In terms of the areas that we are concerned about, we obviously need everyone to be concerned,” she said.

People not wearing face masks correctly gather at a food court on the main shopping strip of Bankstown in Sydney yesterday. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

Mr Morrison said those who are most vulnerable in the community will be targeted particularly, with the 300,000 doses being split between AstraZeneca and Pfizer jabs.

The recommended interval between the two AstraZeneca doses is 8-12 weeks, with Mr Morrison “encouraging” those to get their second jab “at the earlier part of that eight to 12-week period”.

“That is consistent with medical advice – the TGA approval does sit, and ATAGI advice, on eight to 12 weeks.

“Given the risks to people of the outbreak in that area, we believe it’s important that they get that second dose of AstraZeneca as soon as possible.

“That is the community that is most at risk in these circumstances.”

The NSW Government’s efforts to stay on top of the virus and end the two-week lockdown failed to materialise early this week as daily case numbers rose to the mid-30s.

Ms Berejiklian announced that an additional week would be required to do what is necessary.

Mr Morrison hailed “another record day of vaccinations” yesterday with – 165,000 doses. It was a slightly lower number on Thursday with 140,000, totalling 8.7 million.

“A million doses in just over a week – in eight days,” Mr Morrison said.

“We are not far from hitting that seven day million dose target that we’ve been working to for some time now.”

It was also revealed that 72 per cent of those over 70 have had their first dose, 55.29 per cent over 50 have had their first dose, 31.8 per cent over 16 and more than one in ten aged over 16 have now had both doses.

— with Rohan Smith