Australia will expand its Covid-19 vaccination drive to include around one million children aged 12-15 as it secures additional supplies in a bid to step up the pace of its inoculation amid a surge in infections, reports Reuters.

The country is scrambling to control a third wave of the coronavirus from the highly infectious Delta variant and has locked down its largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne. It is also accelerating an initially sluggish vaccine rollout.

The steady rise in infections has turned up the heat on authorities to procure emergency vaccine supplies. An additional one million doses of Moderna was bought from the European Union on Sunday while vaccine swap deals with Britain and Singapore were executed over the last two weeks.

Lieutenant General John Frewen, head of the vaccination taskforce, said there would be enough vaccines from the middle of October to fully vaccinate every eligible person.