New Zealand’s supply of Covid-19 vaccine will get down to “almost zero” by this time next week, officials have warned.
On Tuesday, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins advised New Zealand will get “very close to running out” of the Pfizer vaccine, with the lowest point expected to be next Tuesday – ahead of another shipment of 150,000 doses arriving that day.
Hipkins said stock had been “very carefully calibrated”, and impending low stock levels were deliberate, as authorities would rather see the vaccine in people’s arms than sitting in the freezer.
However, if next week’s shipment was late, “that may cause a headache”.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters there was nothing to suggest the latest shipments would be delayed for any reason.
Hipkins said there just under 30,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine ready to be distributed in the country at present. Another 50,000 arrived today and had not yet been processed.
The most recent data – from July 22 – showed that 127,600 doses had been administered in the previous week.
READ MORE
- Covid-19 NZ: Trans-Tasman bubble paused, Wellington waits for alert level decision
- Top epidemiologist Michael Baker 'quite surprised' with Govt's decision to pause trans-Tasman travel bubble
- New Zealand pauses quarantine-free travel from all Australian states, territories
- No community cases, 4 in managed isolation; NSW records more local cases
Even with this latest batch, supply of the vaccine would be “pretty tight” over the coming week, something that would be “keeping me awake over the next seven days”, he said.
Hipkins said supply is the “big issue holding back vaccination for group 3”, but the expectation is people in group 3 will be contacted for a booking by the end of July.
A spokesman for Hipkins’ office said it is not possible for the Minister to say if there will be any impact on second appointment times, as it depends on what DHB’s plans are. However, no-one will miss it, he said.
The Government is not expecting to see larger deliveries of vaccine arriving until mid-July, Hipkins said.
In the meantime, authorities had advised district health boards to focus on group 3 “while supply is very constrained”, and try not to do too much outside of that, he said.
It comes as Ministry of Health figures show 14 per cent of border workers either have not yet been vaccinated, were exempt from vaccination, or had not yet been matched to their vaccination record.
Astrid Koornneef, Covid-19 Operation Vaccinations group manager, said as of June 22, 83 per cent of the 11,438 border workers recorded as “active” in the Border Workforce Testing Register had received both doses of the vaccine.
Three per cent (343 workers) had received their first dose only.
This week, Air New Zealand told Stuff 77 per cent of its frontline border workers had received both doses of the vaccine, and 80 per cent have received their first dose.
Coverage was higher among AVSEC (Aviation Security Service) staff across the biggest sites – Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown – where 96 per cent were vaccinated.
The most recent figures, released last Wednesday, show 1,019,364 doses of vaccine had been administered across the country.
Of these, 381,517 were second doses.
Health authorities have previously warned stocks will be tight ahead of July, when the country is set to receive 1 million doses of vaccine from Pfizer, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield announced earlier this month.
Vaccine stocks were being “carefully” managed, including “slowing, but not stopping” vaccinations for people in prison and some civilian and reserve Defence Force personnel, both in priority groups.
The next update on the country’s vaccine roll-out will come on Wednesday.
