Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has announced that the state has hit the 60 per cent first dose target as of this weekend with 29,915 doses administered in state-run hubs on Saturday alone.

According to health authorities this weekend saw the biggest turn-out in vaccinations since the beginning of the rollout.

At this stage 2,583,499 doses have been administered by Victoria with even more jabs administered by GPs and pharmacies.

“Across the board, we have hit our 60 per cent first-dose administered target and we are well on our way to achieving the one million jabs over a five-week period,” Daniel Andrews said.

“We are indeed ahead of that a bit and we should meet that target ahead of schedule. That is fantastic. We have just got some 343,000 to go, and I am confident we will get there and get there ahead of the five-week mark. To give you an example of how much activity is in our vaccination system, some 39,000 bookings were made yesterday. On Friday, I was talking about 50,000 AstraZeneca appointments [being available]. I can now pleasingly report to you that there are just 11,000. Some 2,000 first-dose Pfizer appointments made over the next seven days.”

The Premier added that there are no more appointments available this week, meaning that the Government would have to order even more doses and arrange a new round of available appointments.

Meanwhile, he highlighted that Victorian schools will communicate with the families of year 12 students and the year 11 students attending a year 12 subject regarding their upcoming exams and bookings for inoculations.

“But there are 11,000 first-dose [Astra Zeneca] appointments available right now. Please go online,” Mr Andrews stressed, explaining that when Victorians get to their appointments at the state-run hubs there will be a doctor, a pharmacist or a senior nurse to break down the risks and benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine for them to make an informed choice.

“You can get that vaccine,” he said, “Go back six weeks later to get your second dose and you will be fully protected for both you and the people you love the most. You won’t be helping in the spread of this virus. You will have in fact helped all of us to get to the other side and get to the 80 per cent double-dose mark, the mark that allows us to have our freedom back and allows us to live in a very different set of rules and circumstances.”