Australian states squabble as NSW seeks COVID vaccine priority

SYDNEY, July 23 (Reuters) - Australia’s largest state of New South Wales on Friday urged the federal government to divert vaccine doses to Sydney, the epicentre of a flaring COVID-19 outbreak, raising objections from other states desperate for protection from the virus.

The Sydney outbreak has ballooned to nearly 1,800 cases since mid-June, and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian branded the situation a “national emergency”. “We know that in some places around Australia there are very few cases or zero cases,” Berejiklian said in a televised news briefing on Friday.

“We need to get at least the first jab for as many people as we can in those affected communities as possible, and that’s why we are asking for a refocus of the national vaccination strategy.”

Only 15% of Australia’s adult population is fully vaccinated, partly due to health advice regarding rare cases of blood clots among some recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine.