ACT vaccine rollout falls behind states, under-50s not priority

NSW and South Australia have stepped away from the national staged vaccine strategy to allow people under 50 to get in line.

ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said her focus was on assisting the federal government to inoculate Canberrans with disabilities, saying there would likely be an announcement on opening up the rollout to younger people "in the next week or so".

"We're still working through a few issues around making sure we've really got through everyone in our 1a and 1b categories, then looking at what we do next in terms of our Pfizer hub," Ms Stephen-Smith said.

NSW has opened up vaccinations to people aged between 40 and 49, while South Australia has announced people from the age of 16 in regional areas are now eligible.

"We're really focused on making sure we can support the Commonwealth in ensuring people with disabilities are getting vaccinated, particularly those receiving independent living support ... [who] will have difficulty getting to one of our hubs," Ms Stephen-Smith said.

"We've really prioritised that over the consideration of potentially then opening up the Pfizer hub to the next group of people."

Labor MP Bill Shorten, whose home state of Victoria is gripped by a fresh outbreak, wants the Coalition to redraft the staged rollout plan.

"Why on earth can't people under the age of 50, if they choose to, go to vaccination hubs and get vaccinated?" Mr Shorten said.

"Perhaps people weren't worried when there wasn't the risk of an outbreak, but now there is a risk of an outbreak and more lockdowns, now is the time for the government to stop tinkering at the edges.

"Let's just get on and vaccinate Australia."

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has not ruled out further changes to the national vaccine strategy.

"We're looking at these things all the time. We have daily meetings about what we need to do and how we need to do it," he said.

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"The important thing is we have tweaked and altered the way we have done things based on what the states have asked us, based on what the community expected us to do."

Just under 3.7 million doses of coronavirus vaccine have been administered across the country, well short of initial targets.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said progress was being made on vaccinating "priority populations" such as aged and disability care residents.

"What we see is that we have in the priority populations that you ask about, overwhelmingly complete," he told Parliament.

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