South gets set for vaccines

ROLLOUT of the Covid19 vaccination in Otago and Southland may begin in a fortnight.

The Government yesterday announced that the first batch of PfizerBioNTech Covid19 vaccines it bought would arrive in New Zealand next week.

Border workers will be given priority to receive the vaccination, a process expected to start next Saturday.

The Ministry of Health said it was likely to be two weeks before South Islanders began to receive vaccinations, but that was dependent on the freezers required to keep the vaccine in working order being up to the task.

‘‘Final checks on seven of our ultralow temperature freezers are due to be completed in Auckland today, ahead of the

Pfizer being delivered next week,’’ a spokeswoman said.

‘‘The remaining two freezers, which have been moved to Christchurch to support the rollout in the South Island, will be ready in two weeks following thorough testing.

‘‘We’ve also purchased special containers that will enable us to transport the vaccines around New Zealand at ultralow or cold chain temperatures.’’

The vaccine can survive in those containers for up to five days.

The 12,000strong border control workforce has been given priority for vaccination, followed by the household contacts of those workers.

Port Otago marine and infrastructure general manager Sean Bolt said Maritime New Zealand had indicated port workers and their immediate households would be first in line to receive the vaccine, but Port Otago staff had not yet received any communication to say when or where to go to receive it.

‘‘We’re expecting it next week or the week after.’’

A Queenstown Airport Corporation spokeswoman said the company did not yet have a confirmed timeline on the rollout of vaccinations for staff working at Queenstown Airport.

‘‘We expect to receive an update in the near future.’’

South Port could not be contacted for comment.

The Ministry spokeswoman said that the vaccine roll out was a ‘‘massive logistical exercise’’ and the specific details were still being worked through.

‘‘Health providers and DHBs will be the employer of the vaccinator workforce.

‘‘DHBs are assessing their current capacity to vaccinate within their regions, following which the ministry will work with them to engage additional capacity to vaccinate according to the sequencing framework.’’

Several options, including

GPs clinics, popup centres, large scale stadiums or drive through events, were being considered for when the vaccine was made available to the wider public.

‘‘There will also be mobile outreach to rural communities, we want the vaccines to be as easily available as possible.’’

Earlier this week the Southern District Health Board said it had set up and was leading a Covid19 vaccination steering group to oversee the planning and delivery of vaccines in

Otago and Southland.

Clinicians with the Southern DHB and WellSouth, as well as other interested parties, are on the group.

Meanwhile, there were two new Covid cases yesterday, both travellers from Britain who were in managed isolation.

There were no new cases in the community, the Ministry of Health said.

One case arrived on January 26 from the UK and travelled via Singapore. They tested positive on about day 16.

The second case arrived on February 7 also from the UK and travelled via United Arab Emirates. They tested positive on day three.

Twelve previously reported cases have now recovered. The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 44.

The country's total number of confirmed cases is 1970. The total number of tests processed by laboratories to date is 1,578,782.

On Thursday, 5089 tests were processed. The sevenday rolling average up to yesterday is 3868 tests processed.

There have been 28 historical cases, out of a total of 160 cases since January 1. These historical cases have all been previously reported, the ministry says.

The NZ Covid Tracer app now has 2,564,804 registered users.

Poster scans have reached 177,034,553 and users have created 7,219,060 manual diary entries.