A snap inquiry into whether the country has enough COVID-19 vaccines is set to be completed within weeks as urgency grows around a surge in cases.
Health Minister Mark Butler rejected speculation of a lack of confidence within the Department of Health after calling a probe into existing vaccine contracts and whether the country has adequate supply in the pipeline.
Thursday's inquiry follows on from a national surge in case numbers, with health department estimates showing around 200,000 people actively have the virus.
The health minister also confirmed COVID-19 vaccines for children aged between six months and five years, and which have been approved in the United States, are progressing towards approval in Australia. Pfizer has been granted provisional approval to put in an application to provide a paediatric COVID-19 vaccine.
Mr Butler's urgent contracts and supply inquiry, set to be "conducted in weeks, not many months", will be headed by vaccine expert and chair of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Jane Halton.
It has been reported the minister's office had a perceived lack of confidence in the department's existing vaccine procurement contracts set under the Morrison government.
Mr Butler said the review is seeking independent advice about the contracts passed on by the former government.
"I make no judgment about the existing arrangements," he said.
"I think it's entirely appropriate for us to have some independent advice about incredibly important arrangements that we have inherited."
Mr Butler said the Halton inquiry will look into whether existing stocks are adequate but, despite being highly critical of the Morrison government over vaccines, will not be tasked with raking over the coals of past procurement.
"It's not about looking back and examining the rights and wrongs of the former government's approach to negotiating these contracts in the first place. It's about the now and the next 12 to 18 months," he said.
"I guess the key elements of Ms Halton's review will be firstly to take stock of the current contracts and the existing supplies we have in the country of vaccines and treatments.
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"All of the vaccines for all different age groups, obviously also taking into account the developments in relation to under-five year olds. I'm also asking Ms Halton, to the extent that this is possible, to cast forward and to provide us with some advice about likely developments in this area over the rest of 2022 and into 2023."
Mr Butler said there was no hard deadline for the review but confirmed it may recommend changes to existing contracts or seek to implement additional supply orders.
It comes as pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has been granted provisional approval to put in an application to provide COVID-19 vaccines for children aged between six months and five years.
"Presuming it does submit that application, it will be considered in the same way in due course," Mr Butler said.
The Health Minister described the COVID-19 pandemic as "still a very serious health challenge", with about 300 Australians losing their lives to COVID every week.
New COVID subvariants are causing havoc with lives and health systems around the nation. A new Omicron subvariant is expected to be dominant in Canberra within weeks, and experts warn it could put more young people in hospital.
"We're only still starting to understand the impact of BA.4 and BA.5 in terms of its transmissibility, in terms of the ability for people who might have had one of the other subvariants of COVID earlier in the year to become reinfected with this new subvariant," he said.
"And also whether or not this new subvariant is or is not more severe than some of the other subvariants with some research indicating that it might impact the lungs a little bit more than others.
"Suffice it to say, this is still a very worrying development that health authorities not just here in Australia, but around the world, are watching very closely."
Mr Butler also confirmed vaccine studies on updated vaccines targeting Omicron subvariants were showing promising results.
The Canberra Times has cited health expert, Deakin University's Catherine Bennett, reporting that BA.5 potentially binds to lung linings, which means that "more people might experience more than a single head cold or sore throats".
Mr Butler was also left to defend the decision of scaling back funding for telehealth services, which would cut over the phone long consultation.
He confirmed people would be able to access short consultations of up to 20 mins.
The Australian Medical Association condemned the funding cut, claiming it would put vulnerable patients at risk.
Association president Dr Omar Khorshid said Labor "rushed" the decision, which would be detrimental to elderly patients and people in rural Australia.
"Australians who are most vulnerable, those that don't have access to high-speed internet or can't use the devices that you need to actually do a video conference, they're going to have the telephone access that they have today [Thursday], taken away tomorrow [Friday]," he said.
Association vice president Dr Chris Moy claimed the removal of telehealth services would compromise the ability of GPs to provide antiviral treatment and prevent COVID-19 hospitalisations.
"There's going to be a massive uproar from patients and GPs at this moment in time concerned about this decision."