NZ has longer wait for jab

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says New Zealand doesn’t need a vaccine as urgently as other nations — though everything is being done to get it here as fast as possible.

His comments follow the approval in Britain of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, with officials saying it will be made available “from next week”.

The major step toward ending the pandemic makes the UK one of the first to begin vaccinating its people.

New Zealand has a deal to buy 1.5 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine — enough for 750,000 people — but it’s not expected to arrive until March.

Hipkins said everything was being done to speed delivery but “we are not completely in control of when they arrive”.

“There is a global pressure point here. Everybody wants the vaccines and those countries dealing with critical emergency situations are going to be most in need in the beginning.

“They’re not waiting until the end of clinical trials because they’re weighing up other facts, including hundreds if not thousands of people dying of Covid-19 on a daily basis.”

Britain had more than 16,000 new Covid cases yesterday.

“Our Medsafe approval processes are already under way, and will be informed by approval processes overseas as well,” Hipkins said.

Approving it now wouldn’t necessarily speed up delivery, he said.

“What we want to avoid is a situation where the vaccine is ready but the New Zealand approval process still has a way to go.”