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'Get vaxxed baby': PM's plan to get Pfizer into more Aussie arms

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has revealed a plan to hopefully see more people vaccinated as NSW battles an ongoing Covid-19 crisis worsening by the day.

Mr Morrison spoke after a meeting with National Cabinet on Friday. It came after NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian declared a “national emergency” hours earlier with 136 cases of community transmission reported.

There has been ongoing criticism of a sluggish national vaccine rollout and concerns that not enough of the Pfizer vaccine is around to vaccinate the population.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during a press conference at Kirribilli House in Sydney, Australia.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said people taking Pfizer will now be asked to take the second dose after three weeks. Source: Getty Images

Ms Berejiklian asked for more Pfizer but Mr Morrison has declined that request.

"Where there is potential to put more vaccines into New South Wales, even beyond what we are doing, of course we will seek to do that," he told reporters in Canberra.

"But we're not going to disrupt the vaccination program around the rest of the country."

NSW was given an additional 150,000 doses of Pfizer and the same amount of AstraZeneca earlier in the month as the disease began to grip Sydney.

Other states would have had to redirect highly sought-after Pfizer supplies to meet the premier's request.

A staff member prepares a Pfizer vaccination for clients at the Inner City Covid-19 Vaccine Hub  in Sydney, Australia.
A staff member prepares a Pfizer vaccination in Sydney, Australia. Source: Getty Images

Instead, the gap between Pfizer jabs will likely be extended from three weeks to six in a bid for more people to receive a first dose.

Mr Morrison denied the virus was out of control in Sydney.

"I have been treating Covid-19 as a national emergency for the last almost two years," he said.

"That hasn't changed in that entirety of the time we have been managing this pandemic."

He said suppression was the only way to defeat the virus with vaccination acting as wind behind the strategy.

"So whether it is AstraZeneca or whether it is the Pfizer vaccine, both of those are important.

"And as Kyle Sandilands said, 'get vaccinated, baby'," he said.

with AAP

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