He said although existing restrictions would need to remain until more was known about the vaccines’ effectiveness, and until a higher of the population was immunised, the current evidence indicated the vaccines would “greatly reduce” the spread of the virus. “Basically it’s going to be business as usual for the foreseeable future. [But] over the next few months we will see a huge change in how we manage travellers and borders.”
AP
A vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, which New Zealand has started administering. That could eventually mean the end of mandatory quarantine for travellers once most Kiwis were vaccinated later in the year, he said.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins speaks to Stuff about the rollout plans for the vaccine.
Questions have been raised about whether New Zealanders will have equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines, as different people are likely to receive different jabs, some of which could be less effective than others. The Government has agreed to purchase – pending safety approval from the national medicines regulator Medsafe – four types of Covid-19 vaccines for Kiwis and residents of several Pacific Island nations. Clinical trials for all the vaccines are still ongoing. However, recent studies have indicated the AstraZeneca vaccine, of which the Government has ordered 7.6 million doses, enough to immunise 3.8m people, may be only 62 per cent effective at preventing transmission of the virus.