Scott Morrison has urged state and territory leaders to stick to their reopening plans in the wake of the Omicron COVID-19 variant.
While the arrival of Omicron in Australia has created concern, the prime minister is pushing for jurisdictions to stand firm on border strategies.
It comes amid reports Queensland could reopen its borders early as the state approaches an 80 per cent fully vaccinated coverage rate.
“Ultimately, these decisions are for premiers on public health of that nature,” Mr Morrison told reporters in Sydney.
“Once you get past 80 per cent it is a game-changer. We have seen that in NSW and in Victoria and the ACT. These states are confidently living with the virus.”
The national vaccination rate for double doses in people 16 years and over is set to hit 90 per cent later this week, according to the prime minister.
It is currently sitting at 88 per cent.
Children aged five to 11 will soon be added to the mix after the medical regulator granted provisional approval for the age group.
Mr Morrison said the rollout of the vaccine for children will be discussed at Friday’s national cabinet meeting with state and territory leaders.
“We are always going to apply the appropriate care in making those decisions,” he said.
“We have ensured that (parents) can have great confidence about the vaccination of their children.”
Final approval of the plan will need to be signed off by the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation.
Vaccinations for this cohort are expected to start from January 10, in time before the start of the school year.
However, these children may have to wait longer between doses.
Therapeutic Goods Administration head John Skerritt said ATAGI was considering the timing between doses and whether a timeframe of more than the usual three weeks was needed.
“ATAGI are considering a whole range of things, including whether to go for a bigger interval than three weeks,” he told ABC TV.
“There’s a whole lot of educational processes that have to be done, and then there’s the physical rollout itself, involving … primary care in the states and territories.”
There were 208 new cases of COVID-19 recorded in NSW on Monday, while Victoria had 1073 cases and six fatalities.
The ACT registered six infections on Monday.
There are now 15 Omicron cases in NSW and two in the ACT.
The detection of Omicron also led to a two-week delay to the return of visa holders without the need for a medical exemption, which is now set to take place from December 15.
Despite the pause on international arrivals, 250 fully vaccinated students will arrive on Monday in Sydney as part of a NSW government pilot program.
The arrivals will still need to isolate in student accommodation for three days.
By Andrew Brown in Canberra
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