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People queue to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at Bunnings in Brisbane last month.Credit:Dan Peled/Getty Images

Queensland is expected to reach that figure in days. Meanwhile,averaged nationally and driven by high rates in outbreak states,80.64 per cent of Australia’s population has been fully vaccinated.

Speaking to reporters in Brisbane on Monday,acting Chief Health Officer Peter Aitken said he had hoped to be standing there with better news about the state’s progress,with 79.63 per cent having received at least one dose and 67.38 per cent fully vaccinated.

“Not quite there,but oh so close,” he said.

Dr Aitken said first doses made up the bulk of 231 jabs handed out by state health authorities at two hubs around Cairns at the weekend.

“The more people we have come forward getting those first doses,the better it is for Queensland as a whole,” he said.

Queensland is likely to pass the 70 per cent full-vaccination rate within a week at the current rollout pace – which would bring thefirst stage of its border restriction easing forward from November 19.

But the rolling seven-day average of first and second doses delivered across the state has hit its lowest point in more than two months.

And of the 30 council areas regularly reporting vaccination rates and yet to pass that trigger,only eight are on track to do so.

These include the tourist hubs of Cairns and Townsville – along with the Douglas region – in the state’s north,Bundaberg further south and the Western and Southern Downs. The Gold Coast and Scenic Rim in the south-east corner are also likely to pass 70 per cent on time.

The second stage of Queensland's reopening,which will allow fully vaccinated travellers from domestic hotspots to enter without quarantine,will occur after the state passes an 80 per cent double-dose rate or on December 17,whichever comes sooner. International arrivals will still need to undertake home quarantine.

Despite the latest vaccination blitz,some regional and Aboriginal council areas remain up to 40 percentage points behind the state average. Experts have repeatedly warned about the risk to First Nations and tourist hub communities once borders open and the coronavirus begins to circulate.

Authorities have warned regions with low protection would be more likely to be placed into lockdowns if outbreaks were to occur,pointing to the state-leading rate in the southern border town of Goondiwindi as an exampleamid a recent cross-border outbreak scare.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath urged anyone who had already had their first dose to book their second as soon as possible with the deadlines approaching.

“Don’t wait,the sooner you get that second dose when you are eligible,the sooner you will get that broader protection,” she said.

LNP Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said the government needed to consider new approaches in lagging areas,particularly to combat online misinformation circulating in Indigenous communities.

Deputy leader David Janetzki also called on the state government to deliver certainty for businesses about how incentives for those only catering to the vaccinated after the December trigger would work to provide certainty for the Christmas period.

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