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State leaders in Queensland have criticised the Australian government’s vaccine rollout plan, saying that jabs have been redirected to states with stubbornly high case numbers.

“The federal government’s own reports state that Queensland is one of the few states to be fully utilising our vaccine allocation,” Steven Miles, deputy state premier, said on Tuesday. “And we’re just learning now … how many of the vaccines that were destined for Queenslanders have been redirected to New South Wales.”

In recent days, Australian media have reported that New South Wales, the country’s Covid-19 hotspot, was receiving some of its vaccine allocation earlier than other states.

Cases in the country remained relatively high on Tuesday, with New South Wales and Victoria reporting 1,220 and 246 new cases, respectively.

It was the second day in a row that Victoria reported 246 cases, the highest number since its current outbreak began in August. The Australian Capital Territory reported 19 cases and Queensland lodged zero local cases on Tuesday.

The national government has said that the country will start to ease lockdowns once it has fully vaccinated 70 per cent of the population.

Vaccination rates in some states, including New South Wales, where 74 per cent have received their first jab, are higher than in others such as Queensland, where 53 per cent have been vaccinated, according to government figures.