Sydney to get more vaccines as COVID cases mount

Sydney will get 50,000 more doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week to battle its worsening COVID outbreak, Canberra said on Saturday, reversing a rebuff by the Australian government and other states the previous day of a plea for more supplies.

Australia reported 176 new locally acquired COVID cases on Saturday, a third consecutive daily record with nearly all cases in the state of New South Wales, centered in the country’s largest city, Sydney. Officials fear the outbreak could jeopardize the rest of the country.

New South Wales State Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the extra vaccine supply was urgently needed and was the only way to stop transmission of the virus, as people were not sticking to stay-at-home orders. “At the moment it’s like fighting a war with both arms behind your back,” Hazzard told reporters.

New South Wales reported 163 locally acquired cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, up from 136 the previous day, with 37 patients in intensive care. Hazzard renewed a call for other states to give up some Pfizer vaccines so that younger people in Sydney’s hotspots could be vaccinated, reminding neighboring states about the help New South Wales had provided during other crises

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