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The nine freezers will become New Zealand’s central storage facility for Covid-19 vaccines and can reach the ultra-low temperature of minus 80 degrees C needed to safely store inoculations.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Health (MOH) said it was also making progress on purchasing additional capacity for freezers.
“Most of the freezers are likely to be installed in Auckland as our main storage location, and some in the South Island, but final details have yet to be confirmed, including the storage facilities,” said the spokesperson for the Ministry of Health.
“Some vaccines can be stored for up to five days in normal cold chain refrigerators at 2-8 ° C.”
Ports of Auckland communications chief Matt Ball said the port was able to expedite the delivery of the freezers a week after another container ship reported it would be late and the port was able to reschedule the ship carrying the Covid-19 freezers.
“We are absolutely delighted to be a part of New Zealand’s Covid-19 response,” said Ball.
The Ministry of Health is still working on the ultra-low temperature freezers that will be needed to distribute the vaccines regionally from the main storage locations in Auckland and the South Island.
“We plan to distribute vaccines from our central storage facilities in a very controlled manner to our cold chain network across the country, which will ensure that all New Zealanders have access to our immunization program,” the spokesperson said.
“This will require strict inventory management and tracking to ensure that the vaccine is administered to people within its short expiration time once they come out of ultra-low temperatures.
“It is very different from many vaccines, which can typically remain in cold chain refrigerators for months or years.”
Work is underway to expand New Zealand’s cold chain across the country to ensure that Covid-19 vaccine distribution can reach all kiwis wherever they live.
Timeline for Kiwis to access the Covid-19 vaccine
All New Zealanders will be able to receive a Covid-19 vaccine with 15 million doses now secured with the launch planned to begin in the second half of next year.
The government is also working “very closely” with Australia to secure deployment in the Pacific, says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
The Government revealed that it has obtained two additional vaccines.
The new vaccines are AstraZeneca – 7.6 million doses for 3.8 million people – and Novavax – 10.72 million doses, enough for 5.36 million people.
New Zealand offers vaccines to six Pacific countries
New Zealand now has agreements to secure enough vaccines to inoculate everyone in the country, as well as everyone in Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Niue and the Cook Islands, if the governments of those countries accept the offer.
Ardern made the announcement this week, saying that if the vaccines are shown to be safe and effective, the government’s first priority will be to vaccinate border workers, essential personnel and their household contacts.
The arrangements are for 750,000 vaccine cycles from Pfizer / BioNTech, 5 million from Janssen, 3.8 million from AstraZeneca and 5.36 million from Novavax.
