A Victorian health expert is urging COVID-19 vaccines to be fast-tracked in Australia amid a NSW outbreak.

Eight new cases of community transmission have been identified in NSW as health authorities scramble to contain the virus.

But the Morrison government maintains the vaccines will be available in March, at the earliest.

The Pfizer vaccine has been approved for emergency use in the UK and the US.

Victorian Public Health Physician Associate Professor Nathan Grills told Joe Hildebrand the vaccine should be rolled out as soon as possible.

“It’s becoming clear you can very quickly have an outbreak that can go across the whole city.

“It’s too late at that point to say ‘let’s vaccinate now’, you need to be vaccinating a month before that happens.

“We have mechanisms you can put in place to fast-track it in Australia.”

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