Fresh questions on virus vaccine supplies
More than eight million Australians have emerged from lockdown but a growing coronavirus outbreak in Sydney continues to fuel fears of a prolonged crisis.
Harsh restrictions in South Australia and Victoria have eased, while three regional NSW towns also exited lockdown on Wednesday.
But Sydney is facing a grim outlook with an outbreak-high 172 new local cases recorded across the city on Tuesday.
Immunisation rates continue to tick higher with 16.7 per cent of Australians now fully vaccinated against the disease which has killed 920 people nationally.
The Morrison government has added pharmacists to the priority skilled migrant list ahead of thousands of chemists joining the immunisation effort.
"It's all hands to the pump as the COVID-19 vaccine rollout continues," Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said.
But there are fresh concerns about the federal government's vaccine portfolio with questions over mooted Moderna and Novavax.
Between 87,000 and 125,000 weekly doses of Moderna were forecast to join the rollout in September if the medicines regulator approves it for use.
That is expected to rise to 430,000 to 615,000 a week in the final three months of the year.
However, South Korea, which has a contract for 40 million Moderna doses, has revealed its delivery schedule will be delayed because of manufacturing issues in Europe.
South Korean health officials said the company had told them the issue would affect other countries.
Earlier in the week, Health Minister Greg Hunt expressed confidence in Moderna deliveries.
He also confirmed initial doses of Novavax, which is also yet to be approved, were on track to arrive in Australia before the end of the year.
Novavax is now seen as a booster rather than a primary vaccine which it was previously considered.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said the change in strategy showed the vast bulk of that vaccine wouldn't arrive until next year.
"This is a further setback in terms of vaccinating the numbers in the population that we need to avoid lockdowns," he said.
"That's costing jobs. That's costing our economy."
Pfizer imports and locally produced AstraZeneca shots are the cornerstone of the vaccine strategy with people being encouraged to receive jabs.
More than 185,000 of the 11.3 million doses which have been administered were injected on Tuesday, five months after the rollout started.
