New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the country’s Covid-19 inoculation programme will likely begin on Feb 20, brought forward by the earlier receipt of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine than originally anticipated.
Pressure has been mounting on Ardern to start vaccinations for the country’s five million people to take advantage of its rare position of having virtually eliminated the virus domestically, Reuters reports.
“Last year we indicated the vaccine would arrive in quarter two, and earlier this year we updated that to quarter one,” Ardern told reporters. “It’s pleasing to be receiving doses this early in quarter one.”