Speaking at a media conference this morning, Ardern said the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine will be arriving in the country next week.
Vaccinating border workers will start from Saturday, 20 February “providing all goes well”, said the Prime Minister.
12,000 border workers will be vaccinated over the next two to three weeks. After that, household contacts will be vaccinated, followed by healthcare and essential workers and at-risk groups.
“It’s going to take all the year to vaccinate everyone,” Ardern said.
This puts New Zealand ahead of Australia’s vaccination schedule, which, according to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, will commence in late February.
Ardern says the vaccine rollout won’t necessarily change plans around the trans-Tasman bubble as they are still looking at research on the impact of vaccines on transmission of the virus.
Most of the vaccines will be stored in freezers in Auckland, with others in Christchurch.
On Wednesday, 10 February New Zealand officials announced the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had been given formal approval for those 16 years and older.
