6. Question No. 6—COVID-19 ResponseDr ANAE NERU LEAVASA (Labour—Takanini) to the Minister for COVID19 ResponseQuestion No. 6—COVID-19 Response6. Dr ANAE NERU LEAVASA (Labour—Takanini) to the Minister for COVID19 Response: What progress has been made on the roll-out of New Zealand's COVID-19 vaccination programme? Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister for COVID-19 Response): I am delighted to confirm that just under a year on from registering our first COVID-19 case in New Zealand vaccination has officially gotten under way. Last Friday a small group of 29 vaccinators became the first people in the country to be vaccinated in a trial run at the Auckland quarantine facility. As of 11 a.m. this morning 1763 of our border workers have received their initial dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. It's been a huge effort to get to this point and I want to thank all those involved. It's a big job ahead and it's good to see that it's getting under way. Dr Anae Neru Leavasa: How will the vaccine be distributed and is he confident about the vaccine's safety? Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I want all New Zealanders to be assured that the Government is prioritising their safety in the way the vaccine is being rolled out. We know from feedback that some of the major reasons for hesitancy towards a vaccine can be related to concerns around its safety. Through our medicines authority Medsafe New Zealand has followed a very strict process. Unlike some other countries who have been dealing with rampant public health emergencies we've not needed to grant any emergency vaccine exemptions. That means that right throughout the Medsafe process we've been able to take the time and consideration needed to determine that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and any other vaccines that are under consideration are safe for use. We have confidence in both the international science involved in developing these vaccines and the processes New Zealand has in place to ensure that any vaccines we use are safe and effective. In answer to the first part of the question regarding distribution the vaccine will be distributed progressively to more and more communities as supplies allow. Golriz Ghahraman: Does the Minister agree that with new COVID-19 variants developing in unvaccinated populations we cannot guarantee our health here in Aotearoa until vaccines are fairly and equitably distributed around the world? Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Fair and equitable vaccine distribution both in New Zealand and around the world has been a priority for our Government. It's why we are supporting international efforts to ensure countries that wouldn't otherwise be able to access vaccines are able to do so. In terms of the significant amount of purchasing that New Zealand has done we are mindful that that creates an opportunity for us to contribute even more to the international effort and in terms of what we're doing here domestically we are very very focused on ensuring that our distribution here to the New Zealand population is as equitable as possible. Golriz Ghahraman: Will he support the call of some 6000 New Zealanders and organisations including Oxfam New Zealand Amnesty International New Zealand and the New Zealand Alternative for our Government to support relaxing international patent rules to enable the people's vaccine"? Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: That's not something that the New Zealand Government is currently considering. Dr Anae Neru Leavasa: Have there been any additional shipments relating to the vaccine roll-out? Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Some more good news: a second batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines arrived safely at Auckland International Airport on Tuesday. That shipment contained around 76000 doses and it follows our first shipment of 60000 doses that arrived last week. We're expecting further regular shipments over the coming weeks so that by the end of March we will have received 450000 doses which will be enough to vaccinate 225000 people. Dr Shane Reti: What percentage of coronavirus vaccinations that have been given have been successfully entered into a coronavirus register and can those vaccines be downloaded into GP databases? Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The answer to the first part of the question: as I understand I think on one occasion there were about 25 records that were taken manually and then subsequently loaded into the vaccination register. That's one of the reasons we started small. It was to iron out any bumps that there might have been in the system and I understand that there were some on one of the earliest days and that that issue has now been fixed. The vaccination register that we've created will be accessible through the entire health system. So where people interact with the health system they will be able—and people will be able to look up their own data as well. In terms of whether it will be able to be imported into other systems I don't have that information about the compatibility but I'm certainly happy to get that to the member. But one of the key things for us is to make sure that wherever people go within the health system they will be able to access their records and the health practitioners that they are working with will be able to access their records. Dr Anae Neru Leavasa: How long will the vaccination of the New Zealand population take and how much will it cost? Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: It is going to be a year-long effort to ensure that all New Zealanders have the opportunity to receive a vaccine against COVID-19. In the first half of the year our efforts will be focused on our most at-risk people particularly our border workers—which is the area we're working in now—our front-line health workers and other front-line workers who are more at risk and some of the most vulnerable within our population. As we head into the second half of the year we're expecting to be able to make COVID-19 vaccines broadly available to the entire population and we'll have more information on the timing of that. In terms of the overall cost to New Zealand at this point that's difficult to assess because we don't know exactly which vaccines we're going to be using and so on but we have made an absolute commitment that the cost to each individual will be nothing. New Zealanders and those in New Zealand will not have to pay to receive COVID-19 vaccines."