Andrews calls for Sydney ring of steel rejects NSW vaccine push

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has called for a ‘ring of steel’ around Sydney, saying the COVID-19 cases needed to be contained in NSW for the good of the nation.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian called the outbreak in her state a ‘national emergency’ on Friday morning after the state recorded 136 new local infections and suggested other states should send vaccine doses to NSW.

Mr Andrews said it was appropriate to treat the growing NSW outbreak as a national issue but that meant “they needed to treat it like a national problem”.

He said he would be asking at Friday’s national cabinet meeting for a “ring of steel” to be put around Sydney.

“I want to just make this point that if there is a national emergency â€" and I’m not doubting that for a moment in Sydney â€" then it is a national responsibility that Sydneysiders are locked into Sydney,” he said.

“We need a ring of steel around Sydney, so that this virus is not spreading into other parts of our nation. We did it last year to protect country Victoria, and our country. The same must occur in relation to Sydney, and that’s what I’ll be asking for at national cabinet.”

Mr Andrews also signalled he would oppose vaccines that had been allocated to Victoria being shifted to NSW after Ms Berejiklian raised the prospect at her media conference and argued her state had done the nation’s “heavy lifting” earlier in the pandemic.

“I doubt very much that we’re going to see, you know, large amounts of vaccine that had been allocated to us being relocated to others,” he said.

“It’s not my job to get the pubs open in NSW. So I’m not going to have Victorian vaccine go to NSW so that they can be open, while we’re closed. That doesn’t make any sense to me.

“We have barely enough vaccine allocated to any of us so the notion we would be sending it away from here - we all have got need, all of us.

“They have been allocated fairly and there is additional supply, I am not opposed to NSW receiving more, and in fact they have received more in the most recent bring-forward because of the difficult circumstances they face.”

Ms Berejiklian said earlier on Friday that national cabinet should also discuss whether other states should send some of their Pfizer doses to NSW.

“ We need to have a strategy at national cabinet that does think about the options for getting more jabs in arms in Sydney,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“Dr Chant advised us that it is a national emergency, advice also included having a rethink of the national vaccination strategy.

“We have been doing the heavy lifting for 18 months and to be at bay, we have tried to make sure that we keep the economy going, and we want to continue to do that, but in order for us to have our citizens live freely and openly, as well as other states to ensure that their citizens live openly and freely, we need to have a national refocus.”

Overnight, Australia’s medical regulator approved the use of COVID-19 vaccines for children aged 12 to 16 overnight.

Ashleigh McMillan is a breaking news reporter at The Age. Got a story? Email me at a.mcmillan@theage.com.au

Daniella White is a reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.

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