Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defended the rollout of Australia's COVID-19 vaccination program, claiming Australia had outperformed Germany, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan at the same stage of their vaccination rollouts.

When Mr Morrison made his claim, Australia's vaccination rate was about 3.4 doses per 100 people.

That was ahead of New Zealand, Japan and South Korea, but slightly behind where Germany was at the same stage of its vaccination program.

Moreover, by the standards being set by member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Australia's vaccination program was slow to get started, and has ramped up more slowly.

The OECD's 37 member nations had delivered an average of 6.2 jabs per 100 people at the 43-day mark of their respective vaccination programs, compared to Australia's 3.4 doses. And in terms of their overall efforts, an average of 22.4 doses per 100 people had been given across all 37 OECD nations by the date of Mr Morrison's claim.

Whether Australia's relatively cautious approach when it comes to vaccine approval — and hence its slower start for the rollout — represents a prudent strategy is a different question.

Moreover, not all vaccines are equivalent, making international comparisons difficult. These and other nuances are not captured in the raw numbers.

Verdict: Mr Morrison's claim is misleading.