Aust to shift to vaccination hubs

CANBERRA: Australia is set to shift to mass Covid19 vaccination clinics in a bid to administer more jabs under the troubled immunisation programme.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday abandoned his opposition to major vaccine hubs, which the Labor Opposition and doctors have been agitating for.

Morrison made the shift after announcing he would meet state and territory leaders twice a week to get the rollout on track.

‘‘We’ll need to change our rollout to go to mass vaccination options and that will have to be done in partnership with states and territories,’’ he said.

Morrison said offering all Australians at least one shot of a vaccine by the end of this year remained a possibility, but there were too many uncertainties to commit to a timetable.

The Government is copping flack over its decision to dump its vaccination timetable after lagging behind target.

Morrison attributed the delays to three million doses failing to arrive from Europe and medical advice for people under 50 to avoid the AstraZeneca jab.

The next national Cabinet meeting has been brought forward to Monday and after that Cabinet will meet twice a week.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she was happy to take part only if the federal government improved transparency about vaccine supplies.

Meanwhile, Queensland will ease Covid19 restrictions early after no new locally acquired cases were reported yesterday.

Restrictions introduced amid Brisbane’s outbreak two weeks ago will lift from 6am (local time) today. — AAP