The Government has secured an extra half a million doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines from Denmark that will start arriving in New Zealand within days, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Sunday.
“This is the second and larger agreement the Government has entered into to purchase additional vaccines to meet the significantly increased demand through September before our large shipments land in October,” Prime Minister Ardern said.
She said these doses, along with the 275,000 doses purchased from Spain last week, would provide an additional 775,000 to New Zealand’s vaccine supplies.
“There is now more than enough vaccine in the country to vaccinate at the world-leading rates we were hitting earlier in the month, and I strongly encourage every New Zealander not yet vaccinated to do so as soon as possible.
Prime Minister Ardern, who said she was "extremely grateful" to Denmark, said the European Commission had coordinated the purchase of the vaccines which had been produced by Belgium.
“76% of people aged 12 and older are either booked or have received their first dose, but we can’t get complacent. Other countries with higher rates than this are still experiencing outbreaks, so we need to get vaccination rates up around the country and this extra supply will help with that," she said.
“This extra supply means we can continue to roll out vaccines well ahead of plan, so that everyone in New Zealand over the age of 12 can be vaccinated as soon as possible for free.”