Firing out shots in continuing Covid battle

People queuing for Covid-19 booster shots faced waiting for more than an hour at some medical centres as yesterday marked the first day of children aged 5 to 11 being eligible to receive their first vaccination.

Thousands of youngsters across the country rolled up their sleeves to get their jabs, as did many of the 530,000 adults eligible for their boosters.

In Christchurch, the Barrington Medical Centre was at full capacity with child vaccinations by early afternoon.

There were 25 people in the queue at Barrington mall’s Covid-19 hub when The Press visited, visitors told to expect a minimum one-hour wait.

A worker said they had been ‘‘inundated’’ with bookings and walk-ins, and the day had been ‘‘frantic but manageable’’.

At the Nga Hau E Wha marae in Pages Rd there was a similar wait and many people were killing time at the nearby Cowles Stadium playground.

By 1pm, more than 3200 children were given a vaccine at a vaccine centre, doctor’s clinic or pharmacy across Auckland, according to the Northern Region Health Co-ordination Centre.

Meanwhile, there was confusion across several of the Southern District Health Board’s medical centres on when children’s vaccinations could take place.

On Friday, the health board said it would be vaccinating children from today but medical centres in Wa¯naka and Queenstown were not offering the vaccine until next week.

The Press walked into both of Wa¯naka’s medical centres, each confirming they were not taking bookings until January 25.

One Wa¯naka mother tried to book her two sons on the My Vaccine website, and the nearest place available was Dunedin or Te Anau, both three hours drive away.

About 476,000 children are now eligible to get the jab after the Government approved the paediatric version of the Pfizer vaccine in December. The child vaccine rollout comes just before primary and secondary schools restart for the year.

In the Delta outbreak, nearly a quarter of the community cases have been children aged under 11.

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said in December that ‘‘immunising 5 to 11-year-olds helps protect wha¯nau members whose health makes them more vulnerable’’.

Just 5 per cent of New Zealand’s stock of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine has made it into the arms of Kiwis, with the rest set to expire in just over 10 weeks.

A shipment of 100,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine arrived from Australia in November. To January 16, a total 5440 doses have been given, the Ministry of Health said.

The ministry confirmed the existing stock would expire on April 2, but was unable to say what would happen if it was deemed surplus to requirements.

University of Auckland vaccinologist Dr Helen PetousisHarris said it would make sense for New Zealand to funnel surplus stock into the Covax scheme, a global mechanism for equitable vaccine distribution.

‘‘It would be terrible if we had doses of Covid vaccines we did not need and could not use.’’

No wastage of AstraZeneca vaccine stock had been reported, the ministry said. Reported wastage for all Covid-19 vaccine stock is 0.43 per cent.

Last month, Nigeria destroyed more than 1 million expired doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine after authorities said they could not be used before their expiration date.

In December 2020, the New Zealand Government made an Advance Purchase Agreement with AstraZeneca for 7.6 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine – enough for 3.8 million people.

It was then made available in late November, for people aged 18 and over who could not have the Pfizer vaccine or who wanted a different option.

To date, 684,400 doses sourced through this agreement have been sent to Indonesia and 24,000 to Samoa, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).

A further 1.7 million doses have been donated to Pacific nations via the Covax scheme, but sourced outside of the advance purchase agreement, meaning they don’t count towards New Zealand’s share of 7.6 million doses.

A total of 211,200 AstraZeneca doses had been sent to island nations so far, with the bulk going to Papua New Guinea.

MFAT spokeswoman Susan Pepperell confirmed no new stock was in the queue to send, but the rest was expected to become available in the first quarter of 2022. The Ministry of Health was unable to confirm whether any of New Zealand’s existing AstraZeneca stock would be part of this.

Low uptake no surprise – vaccinologist

The number of AstraZeneca doses given was higher than PetousisHarris expected. ‘‘I wouldn’t expect the uptake to be high because we vaccinated just about everybody with Pfizer, and since we made the Advance Purchase Agreement, a lot has changed.

‘‘There are very, very few people who are contraindicated or who might be at risk of an allergic

reaction with the Pfizer vaccine . . . so that number of doses given is greater than the number of people who would have had it for health reasons,’’ Petousis-Harris said.

In terms of preventing serious infection, MRNA vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna had stood up as ‘‘superior performers’’, she said and continued to perform better against Omicron when booster doses were factored in.

‘‘All of the vaccines have been really good at keeping people out of hospital and ICU, but when it comes to preventing infection in the first place, none are perfect, but Pfizer performs better.’’

She added there could be logistical challenges with clinics providing AstraZeneca, as vaccinators had to undergo additional training for every new vaccine.

Asked if the uptake was lower than the Ministry of Health expected, it provided a statement to say: ‘‘Pfizer remains the preferred Covid-19 vaccine for use in New Zealand, reflecting its excellent safety and effectiveness profile.’’

There is a very rare but serious effect of blood clots (thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or TTS) linked to the AstraZeneca and Janssen vaccines.