6. Question No. 6—COVID-19 ResponseCHRIS BISHOP (National) to the Minister for COVID-19 ResponseQuestion No. 6—COVID-19 Response6. CHRIS BISHOP (National) to the Minister for COVID-19 Response: Does he stand by his statement on 17 November 2020 when vaccines come to the market we will be at the front of the queue for those" and is he satisfied with New Zealand's COVID-19 vaccine roll-out? Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL (Associate Minister of Health) on behalf of the Minister for COVID-19 Response: Yes. The New Zealand Government negotiated advance purchase agreements which gave us choices assuring us access to four different vaccines against COVID-19. We chose a Pfizer-based strategy. Now there are a range of effective COVID-19 vaccines in use around the world and our vaccine roll-out uses the one that has routinely received the highest efficacy estimates in the world and it has an excellent safety profile. We have secured 10 million doses and our roll-out has seen low wastage of the vaccine and—importantly—high uptake of second doses. Although the Pfizer vaccine poses challenges such as the need for storage at ultra-low temperatures we have worked through that in our roll-out. So we are rolling out this programme while maintaining border and public health protections that keep New Zealanders safe and as a result we have seen zero community cases for more than 100 days. I have confidence in our COVID-19 vaccine roll-out. Chris Bishop: Has she been advised as to how many people have had their second doses of the Pfizer vaccine delayed beyond the recommended three weeks—in some cases up to eight weeks? SPEAKER: I'm just going to remind the member that he's asking the Minister not the Associate Minister. But go anyway. Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: No I do not have access to that information but if the member wants to put a request in writing I'd happily provide it to him. Chris Bishop: Has the Minister been advised as to how many openings of vaccination clinics have been delayed or put on hold due to a lack of vaccine supply? Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: No but the DHBs continue to track according to the targets that we have set them and that is the main metric to which we are gauging the roll-out. Chris Bishop: Why is the Government not able to release how many people each DHB has vaccinated in each of the four groups or even how many people are in each group at a DHB level? Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: Because the criteria for the groups aren't necessarily things that Government has data sets on so for—Chris Bishop: Oh come on. Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: No that's true. I mean for example there is not necessarily a register of everyone who meets the criteria for having a chronic condition. The work to make those targets rests on estimates and so there is not a register of that at the DHB level. Chris Bishop: Will every resident living in an aged-care facility who wants a COVID19 vaccine get at least their first dose of the vaccine before the end of this month as Dr Bloomfield said last week would be the case? Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: I'm not aware of anything that has changed since then but I think the important thing is that the final dose of vaccines for people in aged residential care will be offered by the end of July. Chris Bishop: Why are MPs around the Parliament being contacted by people in group 3 with underlying health conditions who have not been contacted by their DHB and who ring their GP or their DHB who tell them they have no idea when they will be vaccinated? Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: People in group 3 include over 1.5 million people and they will be invited to have a vaccine—given their booking appointment by the end of July."