To ensure efficiency in the COVID-19 vaccine delivery district health boards are using different approaches, appropriate to their specific regional delivery models, to ensure as much of the available vaccine as possible is used.
One of the unique logistical challenges of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine is that once a dose of the vaccine reaches above -70 degrees it will expire in five days even when kept in a fridge.
Once the vaccine has been removed from the fridge it must be mixed within two hours and then used within six hours. New Zealand’s border and MIQ workers are our first line of defence – that is why we need to protect them and the families they live with first, with the vaccine roll-out.