Two new Covid-19 vaccines secured by Government, enough for every New Zealander

Two more vaccines were secured by the Government today, meaning the nation now has products from four different manufacturers.

The entire general population of New Zealand should be able to get a Covid-19 vaccination from the second half of next year, after the Government purchased two additional vaccines.

It brings the total of pre-ordered Covid vaccine courses to 15 million, with border workers first in line and on track to be vaccinated between April and July next year. 

The Government today announced it's bought 7.6 million doses of the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, which could cover 3.8 million New Zealanders. It also secured 10.7 million doses from Novavax, a US vaccine development company, which could vaccinate 5.6 million people. Both vaccines need two doses. 

The two vaccines add to the 750,000 courses from Pfizer and 5 million courses from Janssen.

It’s hoped frontline workers will start getting a vaccine in the second quarter of 2021.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had already confirmed the vaccine would be free for the public. 

"Our strategy has been to purchase different types of technology, to ensure if some are found in development or in trials not to be a successful option we will have alternatives available," Ardern said. 

"We now have agreements in place with four providers, covering three different types of vaccine technology and we have secured more than enough doses to cover our entire population plus the Pacific."

"This will be New Zealand’s largest immunisation roll out ever," she said. 

"Most countries are factoring the roll out to take all of 2021 and some of 2022 to complete due to its scale and complexity, also due to production and delivery timeframes."

While vaccines won’t be mandatory, officials plan to deliver the message loud and clear that they will help protect all of New Zealand.

Border workers and essential staff will be the first to be vaccinated, with the expectation they will be vaccinated in the second quarter of 2021. 

The next group to be vaccinated will be high risk frontline health workers and frontline public sector and emergency service staff. The third group would be older people and those with underlying health conditions, and also at risk health and social service workers.

Minister of Research Megan Woods said the plan was to ensure no-one misses out on a vaccine.

"Even if it means we’ve purchased more than we need. It’s an investment worth making."

Covid-19 Response Minsiter Chris Hipkins said there was already 12,000 health professionals able to administer vaccines and more to be trained. 

The support will likely extend to on-the-ground help to ensure fast and wide vaccination programmes.

"The Ministry (of Health) has also purchased nine large minus 80 degree Celsius freezers that can store more than 1.5 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. They are on track to arrive by the end of the year."

Minister of Health Andrew Little said given New Zealand has no community transmission, the first group to be immunised are those most at risk of being exposed to Covid-19.

"This includes the border and MIQ workforce, the Covid-19 frontline healthcare workers, and their household contacts. This will further strengthen our border."

"We’re aiming to start vaccinating this group during the second quarter of 2021, followed by the public, in stages, from the third quarter."

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