NZ signs deal to buy vaccine

New Zealand has signed a $27 million agreement to guarantee Covid-19 vaccines for half the population, if an international effort to create a vaccine succeeds.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday said Cabinet had agreed to signing a legally binding agreement to buy any vaccine to emerge from the Covax facility. ‘‘This is one of a number of key steps we will be taking to ensure New Zealanders have access to a safe and secure Covid-19 vaccine when one becomes available,’’ Ardern said.

New Zealand said it would join the Covax facility in July. The global facility is run by Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, a publicprivate organisation made up of members including the World Health Organisation, Unicef, and the World Bank.

‘‘The Covax facility ensures that Covid-19 vaccines are equitably distributed to every participating country, worldwide ... This investment will give us the option to purchase from a diverse portfolio of vaccine candidates should one be successful,’’ Ardern said.

Cabinet had set aside ‘‘hundreds of millions of dollars’’ to enter such arrangements, and there would likely be other advanced purchase agreements signed.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters yesterday said New Zealand had signed an agreement to invest an initial $27m in the Covax facility’s efforts to create a Covid-19 vaccine. ‘‘It will act as a prepurchase, should any of the vaccine candidates be successful,’’ he said.

‘‘The agreement will ensure that New Zealand receives enough vaccines to cover up to 50 per cent of the population of New Zealand and the Realm, which includes Tokelau, Cook Islands and Niue.’’ More funding would be required to buy so many vaccines, if the Covax facility succeeds in producing one.