Response about COVID-19 variant vaccinations for NZ

Attribute to Astrid Koornneef, Director, National Immunisation Programme, Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand:

The New Zealand government continues to monitor developments in the COVID-19 vaccine space, including potential new versions of vaccines and expansions to wider eligible population groups (such as under 5s).

Officials continue to work closely with vaccine suppliers to ensure New Zealanders have timely access to COVID-19 vaccines.

An application for a Covid vaccine for under-5s has recently been received by Medsafe from Pfizer, and is being assessed as a priority.

However, as with any new medicines application, it is subject to a number of steps before it can be approved, with timing dependent on this process. The application may also be declined at any of these stages.

Provisional approval by MedSafe is only the first step in the process. Subsequent steps include seeking COVID-19 Vaccine Technical Advisory Group science and technical advice, followed by a recommendation for consideration by the Director-General of Health.

Ministerial agreement would then need to be reached on a decision to use before the vaccine could be rolled out.

In the meantime, Medsafe is working with Pfizer on their plans to submit data to NZ on variant vaccines. This is expected to happen over the coming months.

Medsafe will be assessing this data as a priority once received.

Our agreements with Pfizer remain commercially sensitive and confidential, as are all our purchase agreements for COVID-19 vaccines. However, we have well-developed relationships in place with a range of vaccine manufacturers and continue to monitor progress in this space, including the development of potential new versions of vaccines as they emerge.