SA vaccine rollout second-slowest in the country

The South Australian government has defended its COVID-19 vaccine rollout program, which currently stands as the second-slowest in the country.

The state government had wanted 12,000 vaccinations done in the first three weeks of the program, but reached only 7272.

Ranked by doses per hundred people, South Australia's vaccination rate falls well below the national average and is second slowest of all the states, ranking just ahead of Queensland.

READ MORE: AstraZeneca declares vaccine safe amid blood clot probe

"We make no apologies for taking this steadily," Premier Steven Marshall said.

"We want to make sure this vaccination program is very, very effective."

SA's Chief Health Officer Professor Nicola Spurrier has said it is unlikely the state will relax any capacity restrictions until there's a reasonable level of vaccination.

The hospitality sector has pleaded with authorities to reconsider, with the federal government's JobKeeper payments now not far from ending on March 28.

Rik Carr had to close his restaurant in Brompton in north Adelaide due in part to the pandemic's customer limits.

READ MORE: Australia-Singapore travel bubble could be live in months

"Running from a capacity of 50 or 60 people, now down to 30 people, we just couldn't survive," he said.

Now running a food truck, Mr Carr said he feared others would also be forced to close if changes weren't made.

"Just give us a fair chance. Help us," he said.

"They're dumping so much money into infrastructure, so much money into other industries. What about hospitality?"

However, Mr Marshall said he believed the government had got the balance right in the past and would continue to do so in the future.