New Zealand has started its official rollout of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine.
A small group of medical professionals were injected on Friday in Auckland ahead of the wider rollout which was officially starting with border staff and so-called Managed Isolation and Quarantine workers on Saturday, officials said.
“Today, we kick off the largest immunisation programme in our history, by vaccinating the first of our border workforce, a critical step in protecting everyone in Aotearoa,” New Zealand director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield told reporters in Auckland, using the country’s Maori name.
“We will be moving through these first few days and weeks in a measured way to make sure our systems and processes are solid.”
New Zealand expects its nationwide rollout covering the country’s population of 5 million will take a full year.
Along with Australia, New Zealand ranks among the top 10 globally in a COVID-19 performance index for their successful handling of the pandemic.
Australia has recorded just under 29,000 cases and 909 deaths, while New Zealand has recorded just 26 deaths from 2,350 cases.
New Zealand lifted a snap lockdown in Auckland on Wednesday, which had been issued on Sunday after three community cases emerged.
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