Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods today outlined the three priority groups for the Pfizer vaccine which has shown to be 90 per cent effective against Covid-19 in trials.
Woods says 1.5 million doses should be ready for Kiwis in early 2021, if all goes to plan. As it's a two-dose vaccine, that means 750,000 people will have access to be immunised.
Woods explained how it would be prioritised for distribution.
"By and large it’s three groups that will be the priority focus points, so first of all it might be the people at risk of spreading Covid, people that are at risk of contracting Covid and then of course those groups that have increased morbidity and fatality associated with Covid as well."
She went on to explain that frontline workers come under the group of those at risk of spreading and contracting the virus, and also Māori and Pasifika people are considered among those with a higher morbidity risk.
"New Zealand is one of only a handful of countries with prior arrangement to get the Pfizer vaccine," Woods says, adding she believes around seven countries have deals for the vaccine at this stage.
New Zealand will be among the first countries in line if the drug, which was tested on over 40,000 volunteers, gets final approval.
“Provided the vaccine is approved for use in New Zealand by Medsafe, it is possible that some doses will be available to us in the first part of 2021.
“Medsafe is working to optimise its processes so that any promising vaccines will be fully assessed as quickly as possible against the same criteria used for all other medicines that enter New Zealand.
“Pfizer and BioNTech will keep us up to date as to when data will be available for Medsafe to begin its evaluation process.”
However, she also stated that the Government is not "putting all our vaccine eggs in one basket" and expects to announce two more vaccine arrangements with different companies before Christmas.
Woods says the Pfizer vaccine will be subject to "rigorous clinical trials", as will all the vaccines no matter how fast they are developed.
An education package around the vaccine will be rolled out as part of the immunisation strategy.
Woods says the vaccine will be made free to New Zealanders.
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