5. Question No. 5—COVID-19 ResponseGINNY ANDERSEN (Labour—Hutt South) to the Minister for COVID-19 ResponseQuestion No. 5—COVID-19 Response5. GINNY ANDERSEN (Labour—Hutt South) to the Minister for COVID-19 Response: What progress has the Government recently made on vaccines for COVID19?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister for COVID-19 Response): Good news I am very pleased to report back to the House that the first batch of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines arrived in New Zealand yesterday morning—landing at 9.34 a.m. on Singapore Airlines flight 285 from Belgium via Singapore for those of us who were following it on flight tracker. Approximately 60000 doses or 30000 courses have now been delivered. We've been working hard behind the scenes to ensure that we're ready to receive the vaccines as quickly and smoothly as possible and that has happened. It was expected sometime during quarter one so it's good news that it's here earlier than previously predicted. It's a significant step forward in our programme and we're gearing up to start rolling out our vaccines from Saturday. Ginny Andersen: What will the roll-out look like and when will it begin?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: From Saturday we'll be rolling out the first vaccines to our front-line border workers those in managed isolation and quarantine—starting in the Auckland region and then expanding to other regions in the coming days. As we've signalled our first priority is our border workers who we expect to vaccinate within two to three weeks followed by their household contacts. Healthcare and front-line workers and those most at risk from COVID-19 will then follow before vaccination of the wider population which is likely to begin in the second half of the year in line with when we expect to receive a sufficient number of vaccine doses.Ginny Andersen: What steps are required before the vaccinations can begin on Saturday?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The first and most important step is making sure that the shipment of vaccines that we have received is in good shape it's arrived safely intact and it's been kept at the correct temperature for the entire duration of its flight. During the course of the week the vaccine will be tested for quality assurance—that's something that both the drug company and Medsafe are involved in. Once those safety checks are complete doses are then formally released to start the first phase of the vaccination programme. This isn't necessarily a quick process but it is important that we get it right; all of the quality control assurances have to be completed before the vaccines will start being used.Ginny Andersen: Is the Minister satisfied that New Zealand is prepared for the roll-out of the vaccination?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Yes although I do want to note that this will be the largest ever immunisation programme that New Zealand has undertaken and we will be trying to do it in a very short space of time. Our teams have been preparing for that for many months. They've carried out dry runs to ensure that they are ready; further practice runs are being undertaken this week and that covers all aspects of the programme from distribution the use of technology to record all of the relevant details through the immunisation register—all of those things are being tested. A number of vaccinators have already received their required training; further people are being trained specifically on the Pfizer vaccine this week. So I want to thank all those who have been involved in that process for what has been a very very tireless effort.