5. Question No. 5—COVID-19 ResponseDr ANAE NERU LEAVASA (Labour—Takanini) to the Minister for COVID19 ResponseQuestion No. 5—COVID-19 Response5. Dr ANAE NERU LEAVASA (Labour—Takanini) to the Minister for COVID19 Response: Meitaki maata Vaa Tuatua. What recent progress has been made on New Zealand's COVID-19 vaccine immunisation programme?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister for COVID-19 Response): Very good news. I'm pleased to report that as of last night 2 million doses have been administered across the country with over 42000 doses given yesterday a new daily record. These figures are great news and they show just how far we've come from the beginning of this year. It's also further evidence of the vaccination programme scaling up and we are on track to offer every eligible person within New Zealand the opportunity to be vaccinated by the end of 2021 in alignment with the sequencing framework.Dr Anae Neru Leavasa: How is our national vaccine supply running and what other deliveries are we expecting from Pfizer this month?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The 25th shipment of Pfizer vaccine arrived yesterday delivering an additional 357000 doses; 240000 of those doses are being distributed throughout the North Island. The remaining 143000 are being sent to Christchurch so they can be distributed throughout the South Island. One and a half million Pfizer vaccines are scheduled to be delivered throughout the month of August. This is very good news and reassuring to see the supply of vaccine continually growing.Dr Anae Neru Leavasa: What other measures have been used in the roll-out of the vaccine immunisation programme?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The Ministry of Health and district health boards have been increasing the use of workplace vaccinations with the first workplace sites coming on stream. Vaccinations have also been taking place at marae at various other primary healthcare places including pharmacies and hauora providers and GPs. There are now 335 sites on board and they are actively vaccinating. The first big event where a number of people were vaccinated took place in Manukau over the weekend with over 15500 people receiving their first dose of the vaccine. There will be another event at the same place in six weeks' time to give them their second dose. And I'd like to pass on my thanks to all those involved in that big event. It was a huge success despite what was predicted by some only a week before it took place and they all deserve our thanks.Dr Anae Neru Leavasa: What lessons have been learnt from the mass vaccination event in South Auckland and are we likely to see further events across the country?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: One lesson would be that predicting the event was going to be a flop before it's even happened is perhaps a little bit premature but most importantly it has shown that mass vaccination events or vaccination events at largescale can work here in New Zealand. They can deliver vaccinations safely and efficiently to a very large number of people over a very short period of time. So the event exceeded its target numbers. Some small tweaks were made each day as they continued to refine that model further and those lessons will be applied to further events. The whole process was very efficient. It allowed consumers to get in and out very quickly. There was very very little vaccine wastage which again is something that is very important. A very low number of any incidents were reported from that event. Those who took part in it reported that it was a very smooth experience. They had a good vaccination experience. We'll certainly be looking to draw on that as we look to do similar events around the country.