AstraZeneca vaccine provisionally approved for NZ – Expert Reaction
AstraZeneca vaccine provisionally approved for NZ – Expert Reaction
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New Zealand’s medicines regulator Medsafe has given the provisional green light to the AstraZeneca vaccine, making it the third Covid-19 vaccine approved for use among NZ’s adult population. The viral vector vaccine is one of four purchase agreements the government has made with pharmaceutical companies. Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall said the country’s immunisation plan remains focused on rolling out the Pfizer mRNA vaccine.
New Zealand’s medicines regulator Medsafe has given the provisional green light to the AstraZeneca vaccine, making it the third Covid-19 vaccine approved for use among NZ’s adult population. The viral vector vaccine is one of four purchase agreements the government has made with pharmaceutical companies. Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall said the country’s immunisation plan remains focused on rolling out the Pfizer mRNA vaccine.
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Expert Comments:
Dr Rawiri McKree Jansen (Ngati Raukawa, Ngati Hinerangi)
AstraZeneca vaccine approval gives New Zealand additional opportunities to ramp up our vaccination programme. The vaccine might be especially useful for some specific population cohorts and thus give us greater population coverage. Consideration should include the opportunity for AstraZeneca-Pfizer ‘mix and match’ regimes.
Professor David Murdoch
The approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine gives us more options in the future. The focus is still on using the Pfizer vaccine, but the provisional approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine gives us greater flexibility.
