New Zealand buys Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines in Spain

WELLINGTON, Sept. 9 (Reuters) – About a quarter of a million doses of the COVID-19 Pfizer-BioNTech (PFE.N) vaccine purchased in Spain will arrive in New Zealand this week, Prime Minister Jacinda said Thursday Ardern, who pushed the country’s inoculation program.

Doses will arrive in Auckland on Friday, Ardern said, adding to some 1.8 million doses delivered directly from Pfizer throughout September.

“That means we have no plans to curb the launch,” Ardern said at a news conference.

Officials have accelerated the national vaccination program as they fight an outbreak of the Delta variant that caused Ardern to order a nationwide shutdown last month.

About 1.7 million people in Auckland’s largest city remain in a strict level 4 blockade, but sidewalks in the rest of the country have been reduced.

About 31% of New Zealand’s 5.1 million people have been completely vaccinated, one of the slowest steps among the rich nations of the OECD grouping.

Officials reported 13 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, all in Auckland, bringing the total number of cases in the last Delta variant outbreak to 868.

The Ardern closures and the closure of international borders since March 2020 have been credited with reigning in COVID-19, largely freeing up day-to-day activities for New Zealanders.

Report by Praveen Menon; Edited by Christopher Cushing and Jane Wardell

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