Australia's supply of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines has been brought forward, with 4.5 million doses anticipated to arrive in September now expected to be available in August.
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine vials. Photo: AFP
Currently, between 300,000 and 350,000 doses of Pfizer are available each week, ramping up to 1 million doses a week in the second half of July.
The earlier arrival of the September doses could help lift the number of people inoculated against Covid-19 during the winter months.
Australia's vaccine rollout has been sluggish, with only 10 percent of people aged over 16 having been fully vaccinated with two doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
A decision to recommend Pfizer for Australians under 60 years due to an extremely rare side effect of blood clotting has put pressure on the rollout.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the plan was to offer every willing Australian a vaccine by the end of the year.
"To put it in perspective, in the month of June we had 1.7 million Pfizer doses, this month we'll have 2.8 million and in August 4.5 million - that's what's been outlined to us," Morrison said.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Photo: AFP
In a statement, Pfizer said it was committed to delivering the 40 million doses it had been contracted to provide during 2021.
"The total number of 40 million doses we are contracted to deliver to Australia over 2021 has not changed. We continue to work closely with the government to support the ramp-up of their rollout program," it said.
"While the details of our agreement with the government are confidential, we can confirm that deliveries to Australia remain on track, and we continue to update our weekly delivery schedule in line with the ramp-up.
"We expect the remainder of the 40 million doses to be delivered by the end of 2021."
Defence Minister Peter Dutton said it was important Australians continued to get the AstraZeneca vaccine and not wait for Pfizer shots.
"If your doctor advises you that it is safe to have AstraZeneca, please take it," he told Channel Nine.
"More so than ever, we need people to be vaccinated, especially in south-western Sydney."
More than 100 extra police officers have been deployed around the area to make sure people are complying with health orders.
Morrison was asked whether the targeted police presence was appropriate, given it was not done in other outbreak areas like the eastern suburbs.
"Police are just doing their job and it's important that they do and there's nothing more to it than that," he said.
Push for disability worker vaccines
National Cabinet will meet again this afternoon and on the agenda is whether to make the Covid-19 vaccine mandatory for disability care workers.
Morrison said the group had already agreed to the idea but it was not being enforced at a local level.
"The reasonable point that was made by states is that the Commonwealth government will take the lead on compliance and we will.
"The most effective way to do this is state public health orders. That's what's been used for flu vaccinations in the past ... so we're seeking their cooperation to follow through on the National Cabinet agreement.
"This needs to be done."
Morrison would not say which state or territory was pushing back against the idea.
- ABC
