ACT pushes for kids to be vaccinated

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has warned the territory’s ‘biggest problem’ is the availability of vaccines and protecting younger Canberrans from infection.

Lockdown restrictions continue in Canberra after a snap lockdown was declared across the ACT last week. Picture: Getty Images

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has warned the territory’s “biggest problem” is the availability of vaccines and protecting younger Canberrans from infection, as the nation’s capital recorded 12 new cases of coronavirus.

Mr Barr said on Friday he would push national cabinet for vaccines to be made available to children.

About 43 per cent of the outbreak’s infections are among people under 17.

Scott Morrison announced on Thursday that the Pfizer rollout would be expanded to all Australians over 16 at the end of the month.

Mr Barr warned the territory was not in the clear yet and the fact that the caseload had risen from one to 100 infections in less than a week showed how quickly the Delta variant could spread.

“If there was no lockdown and we just let it rip, it wouldn’t be 100 cases, it would be possibly in the low thousands and we would have a serious Sydney-scale problem,” he said.

“I can say with a degree of confidence that the lockdown is having its desired effect, but the incubation period for this virus is more than one week and so that’s why we’ve got to stay the course here.”