Canberra: Australia has announced plans to vaccinate people aged 16-39 against Covid-19 by August 30 as the country is battling its latest resurgence.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Health Minister Greg Hunt announced the plans Thursday, reports Xinhua news agency.
The announcement came when Australia reported a record of 759 new Covid-19 cases Thursday, most of which were locally acquired, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 41,522, according to the latest figures from the Department of Health.
Morrison said there were 8.6 million Australians in the 16-39 age group but urged them not to book vaccine appointments yet.
“We will advise of when that time will come over the course of the next week,” he said in a press conference in Canberra.
“The question is usually about 20 to 39-year-olds, but we decided to go all the way through for 16 to 39-year-olds.”
Australia Thursday reached a milestone in the vaccination program, with half of the adult population having received one vaccine dose while 28.2 per cent were fully vaccinated.
A record 309,010 vaccine doses were administered Wednesday.
Hunt said every one of those “is a dose of hope”.
“Every one of those means that more individual Australians are protected, but more Australians collectively are protected,” he said.