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Australia's health minister believes the nation is winning the battle against coronavirus vaccination misinformation after daily doses reached a record high.

While the rollout remains one of the slowest in the developed world, more than 200,000 people rolled up their sleeves for a jab in the past 24 hours.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said the latest federal government data showed 77 per cent of the population was intending on receiving a vaccine.

"As time has gone on, the number of people intending to be vaccinated has gone up," he told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.

"That is an important message that those people who are spreading the misinformation or anti-vax materials are losing the argument."

Jab rates are rising but just 17.7 per cent of people aged 16 and over are fully vaccinated against the disease, which is becoming rampant in Sydney.

Labor's health spokesman Mark Butler said Australia ranked dead last among major economies.

"Scott Morrison adopted a wait-and-see strategy on vaccines that meant while countries like the US, Canada, Japan, European countries, signed deals with Pfizer as early as June and July last year," he said.

"He didn't sign a deal with Pfizer until Christmas Eve. That is why we are so far behind the rest of the world."

NSW recorded 239 new local cases of coronavirus on Thursday in another outbreak-high infection spike.

The spiralling situation has sparked a lockdown that will extend until at least the end of next month.

NSW Police has requested 300 defence troops to help patrol the streets of Australia's biggest city.

The prime minister is urging all Australians to bring forward their second AstraZeneca jab as crisis engulfs his home city.

Mr Morrison said people could receive a second shot within four weeks, a gap approved by medical regulators, rather than the 12 weeks recommended for maximum effectiveness.

"I need to get the whole country vaccinated as well and the sooner we get there and it can be done safely then we should," he told 3AW radio.

Mr Morrison is expecting everyone keen for a coronavirus jab to have been offered one by Christmas.

The federal government has missed several of its own vaccination targets including the initial benchmark of all people being given the opportunity for a first dose by October.

Friday's national cabinet meeting will discuss Doherty Institute modelling and Treasury economic analysis of vaccination rates needed to end lockdowns and reopen Australia.

But a concrete target is not expected until after multiple discussions between federal, state and territory leaders.

© AAP 2021

ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill is dead at the age of 72.

The bearded bass player's death was announced by his bandmates of more than 50 years.

"We are saddened by the news today that our Compadre, Dusty Hill, has passed away in his sleep at home in Houston, TX," Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard said in a statement posted to the band's Instagram account.

"We, along with legions of ZZ Top fans around the world, will miss your steadfast presence, your good nature and enduring commitment to providing that monumental bottom to the 'Top'. We will forever be connected to that 'Blues Shuffle in C'."

They ended the note: "You will be missed greatly, amigo."

Hill's cause of death has not been announced.

The Missourian reported on Wednesday that a hip injury suffered last month would cause him to miss an August 7 show at the Washington Town & Country Fair, although the Texas band had planned to perform songs from its extensive catalog, which includes the 1975 rocker Tush and the 1983 hit Sharp Dressed Man with a different bass player.

The band last recorded new music in 2012.

© DPA 2021

AstraZeneca's COVID-19 shot did not increase the instances of rare blood clots with low platelets in people after the second dose, a study shows, potentially easing some worries over the vaccine's side-effects.

Data published in the Lancet medical journal found that the estimated rate of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) after the second dose of the vaccine was 2.3 per million in those inoculated, comparable to the typical rate seen in those who have not been vaccinated, AstraZeneca said.

That rate was 8.1 after the first dose, it added.

The research, led and funded by AstraZeneca, evaluated reported cases occurring within 14 days of administration of the first or second dose as of April 30, using the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker's global safety database.

"Unless TTS was identified after the first dose, these results support the administration of the two-dose schedule of Vaxzevria, as indicated, to help provide protection against COVID-19 including against rising variants of concern," said AstraZeneca senior executive Mene Pangalos.

AstraZeneca's shot, invented by Oxford University, has fallen behind in the vaccine race after several blows, including production delays, a lawsuit and possible links to some rare, but severe side-effects, including TTS, that are being probed by regulators.

The EU drug regulator has been looking into cases of TTS since March and has found a possible link to Vaxzevria, and to Johnson & Johnson's single-dose shot. It has, however, maintained that overall benefits of both the vaccines outweigh any risks posed by them.

A total of 316 cases of TTS were recorded in adults who received AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine in the European Economic Area, authorities had said on May 28.

© RAW 2021