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.
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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