Nikki Turner: How quickly should New Zealand rollout the Covid-19 vaccine?

There are potential for issues if we race through and approve a Covid-19 vaccine. National is calling on the Government to accelerate the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, in light of the highly-infectious UK and South African variants. The UK is full steam ahead with vaccinating, while there are roll outs in other countries. Auckland University Immunisation Advisory Centre director Nikki Turner told Tim Dower other parts of the world are approving, based on provisional data due to their emergency situations. “If we race through and approve a vaccine and miss a problem - authorities may lose confidence among the population.” Turner says overseas countries are approving the vaccine based on provisional data - while we have a bit more time. “If we see, or expect we might get a break in our borders, then maybe we need to think about moving with provisional approval ahead of waiting for the full data.” LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.