No change to vaccine timeline despite new strains

New Zealand does not have any plans to fast-track its Covid-19 vaccine roll-out in light of the highly infectious United Kingdom and South Africa strains caught at the border.

Australia recently brought forward its vaccine roll-out from late March to mid-to-late February amid fears about the mutated strains, and there have been calls from politicians for New Zealand to do the same.

But the Ministry of Health still expected to start vaccinating frontline workers from the start of the second quarter – aiming for April – and the public in the second half of the year, a spokesperson confirmed.

This week, National Party leader Judith Collins called for the roll-out to be accelerated, saying New Zealand had ‘‘fallen behind the rest of the world’’.

ACT leader David Seymour also criticised the timeline, saying New Zealand had to get vaccines approved to minimise the chance of a ‘‘catastrophic outbreak’’ of these more virulent strains.

However, the ministry said New Zealand ‘‘is not in the position’’ of other countries dealing with emergency Covid-19 situations and community outbreaks, resulting in ‘‘very different’’ risk profiles. The UK – first in the world to begin administering the Pfizer/biontech vaccine – is aiming to vaccinate 15 million people by mid-february as it faces an acute and overwhelming outbreak of the virus.

However, it suggests the timeline could change in response to community transmission.

The spokesperson said Medsafe – the regulatory body which needs to approve a vaccine – was continuing to ‘‘actively assess the best approach for the New Zealand context, including any community outbreaks, as it works through the approval