Getting vaccinated in Australia is like “The Hunger Games” a top health official admitted, as the country battles scarce supplies during a growing Covid-19 outbreak.

A vaccine shortage has led to panicked efforts by people looking to get jabbed, said Brad Hazzard, health minister for the country's most populous state New South Wales.

“It is almost a sense now of 'The Hunger Games' of people chasing vaccine,” he said of desperate residents turning up at mass vaccination centres or making regular calls to medical facilities in the hope of securing an appointment.