Bill Shorten has publicly backed the AstraZeneca vaccine, declaring it the "cure to getting out of lockdown", a day after Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese declined to clarify his own stance on the jab.

Mr Shorten, the shadow minister for government services and former opposition leader, today met workers at the manufacturing site at CSL in Melbourne.

"I'm here today to see the magic bullet to get out of lockdown, the AZ vaccine. I'm here to see how Australian-made is going to break lockdown and help stop the spread of COVID," Mr Shorten told 9News.

"I'm here today in Parkville, Victoria, where the cure to getting out of lockdown exists.

"Twelve million doses of AstraZeneca have been produced by Australian workers for Australians.

"I've had the jab, you should get the jab, we can get out of lockdown."

Mr Albanese has been repeatedly invited to encourage take-up of AstraZeneca after access was opened to anyone over 18 through a GP with informed consent.

"Politicians shouldn't be the ones giving health advice. Medical experts should," Mr Albanese said on June 29.

The following day, Mr Albanese was asked again to encourage under-40's to get the vaccine.

"I share the idea that we should be listening to medical advice," Mr Albanese said.

Concerns have been growing within Mr Albanese's own party over his reluctance to publicly and specifically back the vaccine, used in over 170 countries.

Earlier this year the vaccine was linked to rare instances of blood clots, which led to the vaccine advisory body ATAGI preferencing the jab to over-50s in April, then over-60s in June.

That, coupled with the government's own messaging, led to hesitancy on the vaccine.

In late June, Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared anyone under 40 could get access to it through a GP.

Last weekend, ATAGI changed its advice for people in Sydney.

"All adults in greater Sydney should strongly consider the benefits of earlier protection with COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca rather than waiting for alternative vaccines," the statement read.

9News yesterday revealed Labor had pre-selected Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah, a critic of AstraZeneca, to run in the Victorian seat of Higgins against fellow doctor Katie Allen.

In July, appearing on the ABC's Q&A program Dr Ananda-Rajah advised a young man willing to "take on the little bit of risk" by getting the AstraZeneca vaccine to wait.

"My advice to you: stay calm, be patient, your turn will come, and that will be sometime in September. And you will be given the Pfizer vaccine and you will have protection in three weeks," Dr Ananda-Rajah said.

In a statement posted to social media today, Dr Ananda-Rajah said: "Australians should follow the official health advice when it comes to getting vaccinated. 

"Vaccination saves lives. If you are vaccinated, you are protected from COVID-19. If you are not vaccinated, you are not protected.

"My comments on AstraZeneca were entirely in line with available evidence and official advice of ATAGI as endorsed by the Prime Minister and Federal Government.

"The biggest cause of AstraZeneca hesitancy has been the Federal Government's poor handling of changing health advice.

"It was Greg Hunt who advised people that they could wait for Pfizer and Moderna, which only made hesitancy worse.

"The blame for Australia's slow vaccination rollout is on Scott Morrison and Greg Hunt for not making enough vaccine deals and for failing to secure additional supply in our moment of need."

Mr Albanese was yesterday invited to respond to those comments and clarify his own views, to which he declined.

Mr Morrison told Today: "It's [AstraZeneca] a strong vaccine, it's an effective vaccine. It is the most recognised COVID vaccine in the world and its saved millions of lives."

In an exclusive interview with 9News, Mr Shorten said: "I would encourage you to take AZ when a doctor recommends no problems, this is the only way out of lockdown.

"Over 750 million people worldwide have had AstraZeneca.

"AstraZeneca is part of the arsenal to break the back of COVID.

"We are making the path out of lockdown right here in Melbourne, Australian-made AstraZeneca.

"I'm going to have the jab, my second jab, you should get the jab we can beat COVID, we can get out of lockdown.

"I back the science, I back Australian manufacturing, I back us getting out of lockdown, I'm backing AstraZeneca because that is our quickest and best path out of lockdown."

Labor has spent months attacking the government's vaccine rollout, accusing it of not securing enough deals outside of Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

In an opinion piece published today, Mr Albanese said: "He [Mr Morrison] put his eggs in the AstraZeneca basket. With Australia at the back of the queue, the chickens are coming home to roost."

In an at-times testy interview on 2GB Drive this afternoon, Mr Albanese defended his public comments on AstraZeneca, saying "I agree" with existing medical advice but did not specifically encourage take-up of the vaccine.

"What I have done is the whole way through (is) spoken about the fact that this is a race, I've encouraged people to be vaccinated," Mr Albanese said.

"The fact is that, of the developed world, we are running last when it comes to the number of people fully vaccinated.

"We should have had a range of vaccines here earlier in greater quantity, then we wouldn't have the circumstances of the lockdowns.

"A desperate government is looking to point the finger at someone else.

"One of the things that I've said consistently is that politicians shouldn't be giving advice, doctors should and medical expert should."

He also defended public comments by Labor's candidate for Higgins, Dr Ananda-Rajah.

"The advice from ATAGI was not to have AstraZeneca for under-60s," Mr Albanese said.

A person living with a disability has no way to move around after their electric wheelchair was callously stolen from an Adelaide backyard.

Police released security footage of the suspects walking into the Richmond property and slowly making off with the chair on Monday night.

The male suspect walked ahead as his female accomplice follows behind in the wheelchair.

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The victim discovered the wheelchair was missing on Tuesday morning and filed a report with police.

Police have released images of the two people they believe can help with their inquiry.

If you have any information please contact CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000.

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The Delta coronavirus variant surging across Greater Sydney and around the world appears to cause more severe illness and spread as easily as chickenpox, according to an internal document from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

The document – a slide presentation – outlines unpublished data that shows fully vaccinated people might spread the Delta variant at the same rate as unvaccinated people.

CDC Director Dr Rochelle Walensky confirmed the authenticity of the document, which was first reported by The Washington Post.

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"I think people need to understand that we're not crying wolf here. This is serious," she told CNN.

"It's one of the most transmissible viruses we know about. Measles, chickenpox, this – they're all up there."

The CDC is scheduled to publish data today that will back Dr Walensky's controversial decision to change guidance for fully vaccinated people.

She said on Tuesday that the CDC was recommending that even fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors in places where transmission of the virus is sustained or high.

And she said everyone in schools – students, staff and visitors – should wear masks at all times.

"The measures we need to get this under control – they're extreme. The measures you need are extreme," Dr Walensky told CNN.

She said the data in the report did not surprise her.

"It was the synthesis of the data all in one place that was sobering," she said.

READ MORE: Data suggests third vaccine dose 'strongly' boosts Delta protection

The CDC presentation says the Delta variant is about as transmissible as chickenpox, with each infected person, on average, infecting eight or nine others.

The original lineage was about as transmissible as the common cold, with each infected person passing the virus to about two other people on average.

That infectivity is known as R0.

"When you think about diseases that have an R0 of eight or nine – there aren't that many," Dr Walensky told CNN.

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And if vaccinated people get infected anyway, they have as much virus in their bodies as unvaccinated people.

That means they're as likely to infect someone else as unvaccinated people who get infected.

"The bottom line was that, in contrast to the other variants, vaccinated people, even if they didn't get sick, got infected and shed virus at similar levels as unvaccinated people who got infected," Dr Walter Orenstein, who heads the Emory Vaccine Center and who viewed the documents, told CNN.

But vaccinated people are safer, the document indicates.

"Vaccines prevent more than 90 per cent of severe disease, but may be less effective at preventing infection or transmission," it reads.

"Therefore, more breakthrough and more community spread despite vaccination."

It says vaccines reduce the risk of severe disease or death 10-fold and reduce the risk of infection three-fold.

The presentation also cites three reports that indicate the Delta variant – originally known as B.1.617.2 – might cause more severe disease.

READ MORE: Tougher mask rules, 5km travel limit for high-risk LGAs in Sydney

The CDC, the document advises, should "acknowledge the war has change".

It recommends vaccine mandates and universal mask requirements.

The virus is once against surging across the US – especially in areas where fewer people are vaccinated.

The US averaged more than 61,300 new daily cases over the last week – an average that's generally risen since the country hit a 2021 low of 11,299 daily cases on June 22, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

"The number of cases we have now is higher than any number we had on any given day last summer," Dr Walensky told CNN.

As of Wednesday, cases have risen in all but one state in the past seven days compared with the week before, according to Johns Hopkins.

"The one thing I will say is I've been heartened in the past couple of days to see more people taking action in response to the fact that it's bad — more organisations, businesses, states, localities taking the action that's needed to get us out of this," Dr Walensky said.

The CDC document walks through new "communication challenges" as a result of breakthrough infections, along with the need to retool public health messaging to highlight vaccination as the best defence against the Delta variant.

The agency should "improve (the) public's understanding of breakthrough infections" and "improve communications around individual risk among vaccinated," it says.

Earlier today, President Joe Biden announced a number of new steps his administration will take to try to get more Americans vaccinated, including requiring that all federal employees must attest to being vaccinated against COVID-19 or face strict protocols.

"This is an American tragedy. People are dying – and will die – who don't have to die. If you're out there unvaccinated, you don't have to die," Mr Biden said during remarks at the White House.

"Read the news. You'll see stories of unvaccinated patients in hospitals, as they're lying in bed dying from COVID-19, they're asking, 'Doc, can I get the vaccine?' The doctors have to say, 'Sorry, it's too late.' "

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The head of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) has called for a tighter lockdown in Sydney.

Dr Omar Khorshid said there should be more consistent rules across Greater Sydney.

At present eight council areas have stricter measures in place than the rest of Sydney.

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"Lockdown should mean lockdown across the whole Sydney region," Dr Khorshid said.

"COVID-19 does not respect geography or local government boundaries on a map, and clear and simple rules applied everywhere will make a difference — including mandatory mask wearing indoors and outdoors, when outside the home."

Dr Khorshid said there was a risk New South Wales would have to live with the Delta strain for the foreseeable future.

"We know how difficult this is for the Sydney community, but the alternative is months of lockdown or having to face the enormous human toll inflicted by this terrible virus in other parts of the world.

LIVE UPDATES: Delta strain as contagious as chickenpox

"We don't know if it will be possible to eliminate the Delta strain from Sydney, but the benefits of doing so will be enormous and worth the inconvenience, disruption and real hardship being faced by all of Sydney at the moment."

Dr Khorshid called on people to stay at home in Sydney rather than going to a lockdown protest.

"Don't do it. If you are there, you are part of the problem. You are going to extend the lockdown you are so against," Dr Khorshid said.

"If you want to be part of the solution, go get the vaccine and stay at home."

READ MORE: Police 'will be waiting' for protesters at Sydney rally

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A person has been critically injured after a serious crash in Auckland’s West Harbour A motorcyclist and a car collided on Hobsonville Rd, which was closed for at least two hours between Cyril Cres and Fitzherbert Ave. UPDATE…