Pfizer has sought emergency approval in the US to administer a lower dose to children aged between 5 and 11 following successful trials.

When asked how soon it could be approved in Australia, Defence Minister Peter Dutton said evidence showed COVID-19 did not affect children in the same way as adults.

“It is not a political decision. We have the TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration) and all sorts of approval processes,” he told the Nine Network on Friday.

“They don’t approve vaccines without the most rigorous testing and we should take heart from that.

“If they approve it, then the government will act on that straight away but it’s a decision for the scientists.”

The government last month invited Pfizer to apply to the TGA for approval to vaccinate children as young as five.

Deputy opposition leader Richard Marles urged the government to get its skates on.

“We do need to be ready for that approval coming onboard around making sure that is an option for parents in this country,” he said.

Victoria recorded 1838 new COVID cases on Friday, a new single-day record for any jurisdiction since the pandemic began last year.

Meanwhile, Queensland and Western Australia have again been urged to boost their vaccination rates.

Both states this week became the last in the country to reach 50 per cent vaccination thresholds for over-16s.

Dutton warned relatively COVID-free parts of Australia could not stay that way indefinitely.

“Thinking that you could lock down and pretend like it’s not going to come to Queensland or not going to come to Mackay or into Perth or Fremantle is a complete nonsense,” he said.

Infectious diseases physician Dr Katherine Gibney from the Doherty Institute said states such as Queensland not opening up their borders until higher vaccine thresholds were met made sense.

“It’s going to avoid a lot of the heartache that NSW and Victoria have been going through, so there’s certainly a good rationale with that,” Gibney told the Nine Network.

“We just have to take a deep breath and hope for the best as (NSW) ease their restrictions, it has to be done, we can’t live in lockdown indefinitely.”

Gibney said double-dose vaccine targets of 70 and 80 per cent remained reasonable targets for states and territories to begin the reopening process, which includes borders.

Nationally, nearly 60 per cent of over-16s are fully vaccinated.

NSW has reached a 70 per cent double-dose rate, after recording 587 new local cases and a further eight deaths on Thursday.

Victoria on Friday recorded 1838 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and five deaths but the state remains determined to stay the course with its lockdown exit strategy.

The ACT is hot on the heels of NSW’s vaccination rates after reporting 41 new cases.

Fully vaccinated federal politicians will not have to quarantine for two weeks ahead of parliament returning from October 18.