Premier Dan Andrews unveils vaccine plan as 500+ Bendigo people 18-39 want the jab

If successful, the plan would see Victoria reach 60 per cent of the population vaccinated by the end of September, on its way to reaching the federal government's next phase of the roadmap out of the coronavirus pandemic.

Bendigo Health reported 230 people aged 18-39 had received their first dose of AstraZeneca since Wednesday with more than 500 people registering their interest.

Bendigo Health chair Bob Cameron was glad to see young people showing their interest in receiving AstraZeneca.

"It's been a very rapid uptake from early on," he said. "We know one thing, and that is the only way out of the pandemic is vaccination.

"The more vaccinated we are, the less is the prospect of having lockdowns in the future."

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The plan comes as 12,000 young people rolled up their sleeves to receive the vaccine after many of the state-run mass vaccination centres opened AstraZeneca bookings up to people aged 18-39.

"We aim over the next few weeks to get a million jabs into a million arms; Pfizer as well as AstraZeneca," Mr Andrews said.

"That means that AstraZeneca will be available to everybody over 18 at all of our state hubs, all 50 of them.

"The quicker we get to 70 per cent will mean the quicker we get to 80 per cent and then we're in a different world, one where hopefully lockdowns are not part of everyday living.

"This is all about making sure that we get jabs in arms and that we, all of us, play our part in getting to the other side of this."

The state government will expand access to the vaccine for people aged 18-39 across all state-run mass vaccination centres, and capacity is being scaled up across the state-run system with more drive-through and mobile clinics.

More than 200,000 doses will be administered each week between August 16 and September 19, with sites operating with extended hours and with an additional 150 vaccination booths coming online.

Bendigo Health said it had ramped up its vaccination numbers from 600 to 700 per day at the beginning of the week, but has the capacity to do 1000.

Mr Andrews hoped as many people as possible would roll-up their sleeves for the vaccine to beat the million-jab target.

"We want to break that target, do better than that one million jabs," he said. "There's every chance we can.

"Proof of that is the fact that yesterday we had our biggest ever day; 27,427 at Victorian state clinics. That is a fantastic outcome."

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Mr Andrews said the million-jab effort was the aim of the sate's mass vaccination centres with GP jabs adding to this goal.

The expansion to the vaccination program will also include three additional Melbourne drive-though centres.

It comes as there were 15 new cases of coronavirus recorded to Thursday midnight from more than 40,000 tests.

Of those 11 were linked to current outbreaks and four were under investigation. There are now 148 active cases across the state.

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