AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
FRA
GER
ESP
ITA
NLD
PRT
SWE
GRC
IND
POL
BRA
ZAF
RUS
CHN
UAE
Summary
- NZ Government provided its formal approval to Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for use in the country.
- Quarantine personnel, frontline health workers and airline staff will be the first to receive the vaccine.
- Pressure has been growing on PM Jacinda Ardern to start immunisations.
NZ Government gave its formal authorisation to Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday.
Chris Hipkins COVID-19 Response Minister stated that Cabinet had given its consent to Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and arrangements were ongoing to rollout the vaccine once it arrives in the country. The vaccine is expected to reach NZ by March end and will be first administered to quarantine personnel, frontline health workers and airline staff.
Now, NZ government is in a much better position to discuss its plans and approach that would be followed after this vital stage of approval, as per Mr Hipkins. However, he also noted that Pfizer vaccine process was relatively straightforward and there still existed huge potential for other vaccines being sought by NZ. Information campaign will begin from the next week, he added.
Last week, Medsafe had given a provisional approval for the vaccine use. Since then, an expert panel has been giving suggestions on the eligibility of an individual for the vaccination. Cabinet has deemed the vaccine suitable for use for almost everyone except below-16 people from tamariki and rangatahi communities.
The Government has ordered 1.5 million Pfizer vaccines, which will provide enough doses to vaccinate 750,000 people.
Vaccine roll-out and supervision
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield disclosed that 3 new cases of coronavirus were detected in managed isolation facilities (MIQ). He stated that there were mild to moderate side effects like fatigue and muscle aches in the clinical trials of vaccines.
Hipkins also stated that the work had been undergoing to create the comprehensive new National Immunisation Solution. He stated that it was ready for use and vaccinators will be trained to use it. Health care workers will be able to record vaccinations in that system once it is implemented.
The final goal is to enable each member of the country to digitally access their own vaccination records. Further, special containers have also been bought to transport the vaccines around New Zealand at ultra-low or cold-chain temperatures.
He also added that Medsafe was also studying applications from AstraZeneca and Janssen and had begun arrangements with Novavax.
Pressure on Ardern to begin inoculations
Even though NZ has practically eliminated the virus, there has been increasing strain on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to launch a vaccination programme soon for the country's 5 million population.
NZ pursued a hard and early lockdown strategy to contain coronavirus spread and subsequently, eluded high number of cases and deaths from the virus in comparison to other developed nations. However, occurrence of highly infectious variants in foreign nations, and more overseas residents coming back home, has increased worries about the virus spread in the community again.
Some critics have stated that the country had fallen behind the rest of the nations after promises were made in November about being first in the queue for getting vaccines.
Ardern in response has stated that Medsafe had been studying the vaccine roll-out in other countries to be extra sure about the vaccine and had been in contact with medical regulators around the world. She stated that safety was more important than being in a race to be the first in vaccine roll-out.
