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Qld blames slow vaccine rollout on supply

Marty SilkAAP
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has defended the pace of Queensland's vaccination rollout.
Camera IconPremier Annastacia Palaszczuk has defended the pace of Queensland's vaccination rollout.

The Queensland premier says the coronavirus vaccine can only be rolled out as fast as it's being supplied by the federal government.

Annastacia Palaszczuk defended the pace of the rollout as the first two AstraZeneca hubs opened in Logan and Bundaberg on Monday.

Queensland gave 6300 people their first doses of the Pfizer jab last week, against a target of 3000, but there's been media criticism of the state's slow rollout compared with other states.

The premier said no concerns were raised about the speed of Queensland's vaccine drive during a national cabinet meeting last Friday and the state could only roll out the jabs as fast as it received supplies from the federal government.

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"All of this is being done in consultation with the Commonwealth, so please don't disrespect the process," Ms Palaszczuk said.

"We want to get it right, we want it to be rolled out smoothly, and of course we are making sure that the people have the adequate training to do this.

"It is very important, if we want to see more strength in our economy nationally we need to make sure that people are taking up the vaccine."

Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said the federal government had averaged out the numbers of vaccine doses supplied over a month rather than send Queensland the actual numbers shipped each week.

The state had to adapt to fluctuating vaccine shipments from Canberra, she said, so it could not rely on the averages being suggested.

Ms D'Ath said Queensland Health also needed to ensure there were enough supplies to give each person two jabs, rather than just their first jab.

"We are adapting very quickly to the numbers that we're getting, but the Commonwealth are adjusting these numbers on a regular basis how much we'll get," the minister said.

"And in some cases, as in the figures I was given like last week, we're getting triple what we expected and they have to last us for a few weeks because they can't necessarily guarantee (how much) we're going to get each week."

Another five people in hotel quarantine have tested positive for coronavirus in Queensland as the number of active cases in the state swelled to 30.

All five new cases arrived from Papua New Guinea, which is reporting a very high coronavirus infection rate.

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