Record number of Aussies get vaccinated as 175,002 are jabbed in 24 hours - taking the total to 2million in July and 9.8million overall
- A record number of Australians were vaccinated against Covid-19 on Thursday
- Almost 2million vaccines have now been administered in July and 9.8m in total
- 34.48% of over 16s have had a first dose and 12.95% have had both doses
A record number of Australians were vaccinated against Covid-19 on Thursday, with 175,002 lining up to get jabbed.
Almost 2million vaccines have now been administered in July, taking the total to 9.8million across the nation.
It means 34.48 per cent of over 16s have had a first dose and 12.95 per cent have had both doses.
Teachers and education staff arrive at a new vaccination hub at Prairiewood Youth and Community Centre in Sydney on Friday
Speaking after a National Cabinet meeting with state premiers, Mr Morrison said: 'Each month we are seeing the rate of vaccinations increase'.
He said the country was on track to offer all over 16s a vaccine by the end of the year.
Currently only over 40s are eligible for the Pfizer jab but those under 40 are expected to be offered it in September or October when supplies increase.
Under 40s can get the AstraZeneca vaccine now through their GP if they chose.
Mr Morrison said the premiers also discussed increasing vaccination rates at weekends by upping the number of GPs and clinics that are open.
The leaders also talked about administering more AstraZeneca vaccines in state-run hubs after it the move proved successful in Victoria.
The meeting came after Victoria introduced a five-day state-wide lockdown over 24 cases of Covid-19 and locked-down Sydney recorded another 97 cases, taking its outbreak total to 1,026.
Sydney residents are enduring their third week of lockdown with at least another two to go
Mr Morrison urged Australians to follow the stay at home orders to help get lockdowns over as soon as possible.
'The target here is to reduce as far as possible to zero the cases that are infectious in the community,' he said.
The Prime Minister said Australia would continue to seek answers on how the pandemic began after the boss of the World Health Organisation said a leak from a high-security laboratory in Wuhan, China couldn't be ruled out.
'Australia has always wanted to know for the purpose of world health,' Mr Morrison said.
'There's no politics in this. What happened and how can we prevent it from happening again?'
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Mr Morrison said he doesn't 'have a view either way' about whether the virus came from the lab or spawned in animals in the wild.
'I'm not in a position to make that judgement,' he said.
'The world needs answers to this and the world deserves answers to this... and Australia will continue to ask to get those answers.'
The Chinese government has said that attempts to link the origins of Covid-19 to a lab are politically motivated and has suggested the outbreak started abroad.
At WHO's annual meeting of health ministers in the spring, China said that the future search for Covid-19's origins should take place in other countries.
This aerial view shows the P4 laboratory on the campus of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province. It is not known if the virus leaked from the lab
Most scientists suspect that the coronavirus originated in bats, but the exact route by which it first jumped into people - via an intermediary animal or in some other way - has not yet been determined.
It typically takes decades to narrow down the natural source of an animal virus like Ebola or SARS.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that 'checking what happened, especially in our labs, is important' to nailing down if the pandemic had any laboratory links.
'We need information, direct information on what the situation of this lab was before and at the start of the pandemic,' the WHO chief said, adding that China's cooperation was critical. 'If we get full information, we can exclude (the lab connection).'
Tonight Mr Morrison will dial into a video call with Pacific leaders to talk about Covid and regional security.
US President Joe Biden, his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Russian President Vladimir Putin will be on the call.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will chair the meeting Friday of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
The new locally-acquired cases mean the state's outbreak of the highly-contagious Delta variant has now reached 1,026 infections
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