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Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced the opening of a new mass vaccination hub in Brisbane.

Because of this,Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said there was no risk to the broader community. “We have absolutely no concerns about that,” she told reporters in Brisbane.

In an effort to boost the state’s lagging vaccination rate,amid an expected rise in Pfizer supplies,Ms Palaszczuk said her government would open a new mass vaccination hub at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in Boondall on September 8.

The site will initially offer 1500 bookings before ramping up to match the 3000 a day being delivered atthe Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre at South Bank and those expected to be offered at the Logan Entertainment Centreby the end of September.

“We will also have walk-in days where you won’t need an appointment,” Ms Palaszczuk said,reiterating her call for people to register with the state vaccine booking site or approach their GP or pharmacy.

Chairs set out for people to wait after receiving a vaccine dose inside the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre hub,which opened this month.Credit:Jono Searle/Getty Images

“The more people we get vaccinated before another outbreak helps protect more of our community,so every single day is critical from now until the next outbreak,” she said.

As of Saturday,30.74 per cent of Queensland’s population aged 16 and older had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine,while 49.44 per cent had received one.

Only Western Australia hasa smaller portion of its population vaccinated. All other states and territories have surpassed 51.7 per cent for the first dose and 32.9 per cent for the second.

Asked if she was concerned that the state was still home to some of the country’s lowest-vaccinated areas,Ms Palaszczuk said she planned to ask Deputy Premier Steven Miles to convene another teleconference with regional mayors on Monday to “stress how important” lifting vaccination rates was.

“We want to see the vaccination rates,you know,lift simultaneously around the state,” she said. “But we recognise we are the most decentralised state. We don’t have all our population centred like Victoria and New South Wales do in Sydney and in Melbourne.”

Queensland has repeatedlyruled out offering the AstraZeneca vaccine at its state-run clinics,despite this occurring in NSW and Victoria. The ability to offer walk-in vaccinations has also been stymied by supply and the earlier focus on priority groups before registration wasopened for anyone older than 16 on August 9.

Amid national debate aboutwhat the lifting of restrictions would look like once a 70-80 per cent vaccination rate was reached,Ms Palaszczuk said Queensland was forecasting and modelling various scenarios,but it would depend on supply.

“But it’s good to see we’re almost at that 50 per cent first dose[level],so I’m very encouraged by that,” she said.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said she eventually hoped to see 95 per cent of the state protected. “But anything is excellent above that 80 per cent target[and] will help us manage the next outbreak in a different way to the ways we’ve had to manage previous outbreaks to keep Queenslanders safe.”

The latest infection takes Queensland’s active caseload to 26. A total of 6500 tests were carried out in the past 24 hours and 14,843 vaccine doses were administered in state-run hubs.

NSW reported its highest daily total so far on Sunday,with 1218 cases and six deaths. Meanwhile Victoriaextended its statewide lockdown beyond the planned end date of Thursday after 92 new cases,about a third of which were not yet linked to the outbreak.

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Coronavirus pandemic