Covid 19 Coronavirus: ‘Crucial Stage’ – Pfizer Vaccine Overcomes New Zealand’s Final Hurdle

The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine has overcome the hurdle of its final approval and after the ministers approved it.

It comes as Health Director General Ashley Bloomfield revealed three Covid cases today and all are in managed isolation – there are 59 active cases in the country.

The labs processed 2,845 tests yesterday.

The Ministry of Health will also start reporting historical case counts of infected people abroad.

Bloomfield said it was important to note that the historical cases were not infectious. Since January there have been 28 cases considered historical out of 158 confirmed cases.

Who can and cannot receive the jab?

The government does not yet have a firm date for when the Pfizer vaccines will arrive, but health boards were warned to “be ready.”

The vaccine has only been approved for kiwifruit over 16 years old and not receiving other specific cancer treatments.

Pregnant women are advised to discuss vaccinations with their doctors, but it has been deemed suitable for lactating women.

And after receiving the injection, people will need to be observed for 30 minutes, like many other vaccines, and be aware that there could be side effects such as fever, muscle pain, and fatigue.

Border workers such as nurses, security personnel, customs and border officials, airline personnel and hotel workers and their homes will be the first to be vaccinated when the first batch arrives in late March.

Hipkins will answer questions about which other population groups will be prioritized at the 1 pm news conference in Beehive with Chief of Health Ashley Bloomfield.

The Pfizer vaccine was approved by Medsafe last week and then the Health Ministry gave relevant ministers advice on the “decision to use.”

Hipkins described the final approval of the government as a “crucial stage” and meant that the government could “begin to have a conversation with New Zealanders” about the launch of the vaccine.

Information campaigns will begin next week that will address “natural issues.”

All of these steps can provide further assurance to the New Zealand public that this vaccine is safe to use, “said Hipkins.

“While vaccination of our border workers and other frontline workers takes place, we will continue to receive advice from officials on the other vaccines in our portfolio. Medsafe is in regular discussions with AstraZeneca and Janssen and has started working with Novavax. A Similar rigorous approval process is being followed. “

Final checks on the seven ultra-low freezers in Auckland will be completed by the end of the week, while the two on the South Island should have completed their checks before the end of the month.

In addition, special containers have been purchased to move the vaccine, which must be kept at -70 ° C, throughout the country.

In addition, 1,800 people have volunteered for training to administer the vaccine. The Government estimates that it needs between 2,000 and 3,000 health personnel for the vaccination campaign.

The technical advisory group informed Bloomfield this morning that there was “nothing out of the ordinary” about reactions to the AstraZeneca vaccine compared to other vaccines and described the reactions as “mild to moderate.”

“The rates are very in line with other vaccines,” said Bloomfield.

Vaccine scams

Hipkins said the government was working to “actively fight” scammers who prey on people and trick Kiwis into giving out personal and financial information.

He said there were examples abroad of scammers taking advantage of people.

The vaccine will be free and at no point will you be asked to pay to reserve your spot in the queue.

All the information will come from the Ministry of Health or another trustworthy government agency, and if a different site asks for it, you should assume it is a scam, Hipkins said.

The government has received messages from Facebook and Google that they will remove misinformation and scams from their sites.

Will the kids be able to get a jab later?

The vaccine has not been approved for children and rangatahi under the age of 16 because it was not tested in that age group.

The Government said this decision could be reconsidered if more information becomes available.

And people who receive specific therapies should not receive the vaccine; Those therapies are pembrolizumab (Keytruda), nivolumab (Opdivo), ipilimumab (Yervoy), and atezolizumab (Tecentriq).

The travels of Green MP

Hipkins said he did not know Green MP Ricardo Menendez March’s reasons for leaving the country and said he was notified of his return to New Zealand, but that he was not involved in that decision. That was left to the CEO of MBIE.