NZ right to wait over Covid vaccine, experts say
New Zealand may have been a world leader in eliminating Covid-19, but when it comes to vaccinating against the virus, we’re heeding the advice that ‘‘good things come those who wait’’.
While the United Kingdom, United States and Canada have already begun mass immunisation campaigns, Kiwis won’t get jabbed until the middle of the year.
Scientists at MedSafe, the national regulator of medicines, are continually reviewing data from ongoing trails of vaccines developed by drug manufacturers Pfizer, BioNTech and Janssen to ensure they’re safe and effective.
In December, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the Government had signed agreements to buy enough Covid-19 vaccines to inoculate every New Zealander.
However, it would only start giving people the shots ‘‘if and when’’ MedSafe approves them.
‘‘Medsafe will not be rushed into accepting the first vaccine that shows promise without the vaccine meeting internationally agreed criteria for safety, efficacy and quality,’’ a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health said.
‘‘We cannot give an exact timeframe due to the variables involved ... [but] we expect to progress quickly.’’
New Zealand was taking a more cautious approach than other countries.
Trustedmedicine regulators in Australia, the UK, Europe, Canada and the US had given the vaccines the green light before clinical trials had finished as they continued to grapple with thousands of new Covid-19 infections – and fatalities – every day.
Israel has been considered a world leader in the Covid-19 vaccination roll out, with 14 per cent of its population, more than 1.2 million people, having so far received a dose of the PfizerBioNtech vaccine.
But experts said New Zealand was in an enviable position internationally.
Because we had eliminated community transmission of Covid-19, there wasn’t the same level of urgency.
Director of the Immunisation Advisory Centre and University of Auckland associate professor, Dr Nikki Turner, described New Zealand’s approach as ‘‘pragmatic’’ and ‘‘sensible’’.
Although the clinical trials conducted so far had indicated Covid-19
vaccines that used new technology to take a tiny snip of the virus’ genetic code called messenger RNA (mRNA) to trigger the immune system, such as the one New Zealand planned to buy, were effective and safe, they were not a ‘‘magic bullet’’.
‘‘We do need to learn to live more with the uncertainty of some of this [the pandemic]’’, Turner said.
University of Auckland associate professor Helen Petousis-Harris, a vaccinologist, said rolling out mass vaccinations required a lot of organisation and planning.
For example, authorities still needed to decide which communities to vaccinate first, and train the medical professionals who would administer the vaccines. Waiting a few more months to immunise people would allow New Zealand to learn from the logistical problems other nations encountered, Petousis-Harris said.
‘‘We do have the luxury of being able to do this systematically and not in a rush.’’
University of Otago professor of microbiology David Murdoch said while New Zealand’s vaccination roll out was taking longer than other countries’, the approval process was still moving more quickly than it had for other vaccines.
‘‘There’s a lot happening in parallel, where it all used to happen in sequence,’’ Murdoch said.
‘‘I do think the safety issue has been obviously quite rightly raised.
‘‘The rigour that MedSafe is going to be following, it’s just as high as it normally is.’’
Transport companies equipped to distribute the vaccine had to apply for the Government tender by January 18 and the ultra-cold freezers which would be used to store the vaccines arrived in Auckland on Christmas Eve.