A small group of vaccinators have given and received their first COVID-19 vaccinations this afternoon (19 February) as part of final preparations before tomorrow’s rollout of New Zealand’s immunisation programme. “Our trial run at the Auckland quarantine facility today has confirmed our processes and systems are ready ahead of our first official day vaccinating border and MIQ workers tomorrow,” Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said. “Today we’ve vaccinated 25 Auckland-based vaccinators who will start giving the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to border and MIQ staff from tomorrow.
There were two teams involved in today’s trial run. “This is the first time we’ve used this vaccine and it’s our first vaccine that needs