Authorities say they have thrown out more than six million expired doses of the Covid-19 vaccine in New Zealand since the virus hit our shores.
More than five years after the start of the pandemic that stopped the country, and the world, Covid-19 is still killing New Zealanders every week.
The virus remained in almost every corner of the country – and more than 500 cases were reported in the past week alone. Immunisation Advisory Centre general practitioner and medical director Dr Nikki Turner said it was “likely to be a lot more than that”.
“It circulates in the community – some people carry Covid and don’t get any symptoms at all, other people have it quite mildly at home so there will be much more Covid around than people realise.”
Weekly deaths from Covid-19 this year have peaked at 11.
Vaccines were still available and more than 13 million doses have been provided since August 2021.
But a further six million expired in that time, and were dumped.
Turner said the number was “really disappointing”.
“I understand the health authorities purchased the vaccine for the people who need it … so there seems to be quite a gap between the vaccine being purchased and the amount of people taking it up.”
Health New Zealand said Covid was now being managed as part of a business-as-usual response – as was done with others such as measles and whooping cough. The ministry said it had the ability to scale up if an outbreak hit.
Professor Michael Plank, a Covid-19 modeller, suggested another wave could be looming due to lowered immunity.
“The fact we haven’t had a noticeable Covid wave since last winter suggests that our immunity could have dropped a little bit over the past year so we could see another wave,” Plank said.
There were currently more than 280,000 adult doses of the vaccine on hand.
It was free for those aged over 30, and recommended for the elderly and those with medical conditions.
