Vaccine caution rebuffed

A top health official says there is no cause to change New Zealand’s planned roll-out of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine despite a call to pause it in Australia.

On Wednesday, it was reported the Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology called for the Australian Government to immediately pause the planned roll-out of the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed in conjunction with Oxford University, because it may not be effective enough to generate herd immunity.

Phase three clinical trials of the vaccine show it is 62 per cent effective in preventing Covid-19. New Zealand has an advance agreement with AstraZeneca for 7.6 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine – enough to vaccinate

3.8 million people.

Immunology society president Professor Stephen Turner said that on current evidence the AstraZeneca vaccine should not be widely rolled out across the ditch.

‘‘The AstraZeneca vaccine is not one I would be deploying widely, because of that lower efficacy,’’ he said.

‘‘You cannot rely on it to establish herd immunity.’’

But a Ministry of Health spokesperson said advice from the ministry’s chief science adviser, Professor Ian Town, stated there was no cause for change in New Zealand’s roll-out. The Government also has advance purchase agreements for the Pfizer/BioNTech, Novavax and Janssen vaccines. Access to four vaccines ensured ‘‘we are well-placed to get access to a safe and effective vaccine as early as possible, and to manage risks around any one particular candidate not working to meet our needs,’’ the spokesperson said.

Medsafe is working through its review of each vaccine as the companies provide their assessment data – no regulatory approvals for Covid-19 vaccines have been issued at present.