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A pharmacy technician loads a syringe with Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.Credit:AP

The rise of Pfizer doses comes as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said there was insufficient vaccination coverage to allow for people fully or partially vaccinated to be exempt from restrictions triggered by the outbreak across Sydney.

“This particular strand is extremely contagious,and we don’t have enough of the population vaccinated to make those distinctions. Until the vast majority of our population is vaccinated,these threats will be real and ongoing,” Ms Berejiklian said on Wednesday. “No matter how good we are dealing with the outbreaks,the threat is real until the majority of our population is vaccinated.”

The allocation of Pfizer doses is expected to increase gradually from July,according to the new national vaccine forecast released on Wednesday. From October,NSW’s GPs and respiratory clinics are set to receive up to 530,000 Pfizer doses each week and NSW Health’s vaccine hubs up to 240,000 doses each week.

The allocation of Pfizer doses is expected to increase gradually from July onwards.Credit:AP

GPs will start receiving up to about 43,000 Moderna shots from July,reaching up to about 212,000 doses each week in October.

On Wednesday COVID-19 taskforce commander Lieutenant General John Frewen said there were 94 aged care facilities across NSW that are yet to administer their second doses,and those visits will be “brought forward” over the next five days. None of the 94 facilities yet to receive second doses are in hotspot local government areas.

About two million vaccines have been administered in NSW to date,roughly 20 per cent of the 10 million jabs Ms Berejiklian has flagged that would see most of the population vaccinated and the possibility of international borders being reopened.

“We don’t have any control over the number of doses we receive and what those doses are. That is the responsibility of the Commonwealth,” Ms Berejiklian said.

The Premier called on the federal government to increase the number of GPs allowed to provide COVID-19 inoculations and encouraged people who have had their first AstraZeneca dose to get their second shot.

From February to June about 900,000 AstraZeneca and Pfizer doses were delivered to NSW Health’s state hubs from the federal government. Of those,the state has received about 771,000 Pfizer doses and approximately 128,200 AstraZeneca doses.

NSW Health to date has administered 694,125 vaccines since February 22. This equates to a utilisation rate of about 77 per cent.

About 500 GP practices nationally are scheduled to commence administering Pfizer from July 5.

The federal government is finalising the next two groups of general practices to start later in July,and individual allocations for clinics.

On Wednesday Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly said NSW has had “up to now,very strong linkage between the cases,but that has changed over the last 24 hours.”

He said the party in south-west Sydney was a possible super spreader event,with 10 out of 30 people attending testing positive. “I think the school,the plane and the party are three different complex settings so that has changed over the last 24 hours.”

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