Ultra-cold freezers for 1.5 million Covid-19 vaccine doses arrive in Auckland

December 24, 2020

Nine ultra-cold freezers have arrived in NZ early.

Nine large ultra-cold freezers have arrived in New Zealand early, ready for next year’s delivery of 1.5 million Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines that need to be stored in extremely cold environments.

The freezers, which chill at a cool -80°C, were unloaded at the Ports of Auckland from the Navios Miami, which travelled from Shanghai via Brisbane, this morning.

A Ministry of Health spokesperson said most of the freezers are likely to stay in Auckland, with some expected to also be sent down to the South Island.

From the ultra-cold freezers, the Pfizer vaccine can then be stored for up to five days in normal cold chain fridges in temperatures from 2 to 8°C. 

The spokesperson said this would require “strict inventory management and tracking” of the vaccine to make sure it’s given to people within that window of time. 

“We plan to distribute vaccines from our central storage facilities in a very controlled way to our cold chain network nationwide, which will ensure all New Zealanders have access to our immunisation programme.”

The spokesperson said final details about where the freezers would end up are yet to be confirmed. 

The Ministry of Health is also planning to purchase more freezers. 

The freezers were meant to be unloaded early next month. But, that came early after another ship was delayed. 

Ports of Auckland receives a shipment of ultra-cold freezers to store Covid-19 vaccines.

In November, Minister for Research, Science and Innovation Megan Woods said 1.5 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine should be ready for Kiwis in early 2021 , if all goes to plan. As it is a two-dose vaccine, that means 750,000 people would have access.

The Pfizer vaccine is said to be 90 per cent effective. But, because it needs to be stored at  -70°C, the Government said it would need to prepare the infrastructure to store and transport it

The Government also has deals with Janssen, Novavax and AstraZeneca. This will ensure there are enough vaccines to immunise the entire population. 

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. 

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.

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