Please see below messaging from the Ministry of Health regarding the reduced booster interval time. •
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From Friday 4 February, New Zealanders aged 18 or older can now receive a Pfizer booster 3 months (93 days) after completing their primary course (for most people this will be two doses but for those who are immune compromised this might be three). The interval between completing your primary course and the booster dose has been reduced from 4 months (122 days) to 3 months (93 days) to shore up our defences against Omicron. Current evidence shows your protection against infection after the primary vaccination course decreases over time. Getting a ‘top up’ vaccine after your two doses helps boost your immunity against COVID-19. Reducing the interval now means an additional 1 million New Zealanders are eligible to receive their booster before the end of summer. Bringing forward the booster interval is likely to improve pandemic outcomes for all New Zealanders and improve outcomes for those groups who have been immunised more recently. It will mean more people, especially Māori, will be able to receive a booster before Omicron takes hold in communities. As of 4 February 2022, an additional 106,949 Māori will be eligible for a booster – representing a 62 per cent increase and an additional 59,470 Pacific people will be eligible, representing a 48 percent increase. Boosters lower the chance of getting very sick from COVID-19 and ending up in hospital. Less hospitalisations will mean less likelihood of overwhelming our hospitals, which can have disproportionate effects on certain groups such as people with disabilities or long-term illnesses and can result in delays to diagnosis of illness. It is also important to reduce impacts on other workforces such as those involved with the supply chain to ensure people have access to goods and services. This is a constantly evolving situation and as indicated in December, the Government was receiving advice from health officials whether the gap in doses can and should be reduced further. The latest advice from the COVID-19 Technical Advisory Group recommends shortening the interval to 3 months. The shortened booster interval to 3 months only applies to the Pfizer vaccine. CV-TAG will provide separate advice on AstraZeneca later this month. As of 25 January, some countries that are administering a three-month booster interval are: Australia, Chile, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.