At the urging of NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian, prime minister Scott Morrison has diverted 300,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine to the Western Sydney LGAs where the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant is highest. Some 150,000 doses will be the Pfizer vaccine, recommended for people aged under 60, and 150,000 doses will be the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is recommended for people aged 60 and older. Despite the increase in doses, people aged under 40 still won’t qualify for the Pfizer vaccine, although they can opt to have the AstraZeneca once they have consulted a GP. AstraZeneca has been associated with extremely rare instances (approximately 6 cases per one million doses) of blood clots in younger people.
Greater Sydney is coming to the end of the second week of a three-week lockdown, which is due to end on July 16. However, this date for lifting lockdown measures looks increasingly unrealistic. Berejiklian has said repeatedly that restrictions of some sort will be necessary in NSW until a significant proportion of the population are vaccinated and the prime minister said that the evidence suggested that the situation in NSW would go longer than the recent lockdown in Victoria.
Morrison pledged to have the additional does at vaccination points by July 12, adding that the diverted doses would not come at the expense of other states and territories. The vaccine rollout has been widely criticised for being too slow, leaving the country vulnerable to outbreaks like the one currently spreading across Greater Sydney. Morrison defended the federal government’s vaccination program, saying that every Australian who wants a vaccine will have access to the jab by the end of the year.