Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced a second vaccine deal, this time with Denmark, which will see Aotearoa receive an extra 500,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
The PM made the announcement during Sunday's press conference, revealing the extra doses will keep supplies healthy as New Zealanders continue to get vaccinated at a rapid pace.
"This will bolster our rollout for the remainder of September where we had some constraint on the amount of supply we had, before the big batches we had on order arrive in October," Ardern explained.
The new agreement comes only a few days after Ardern's announcement that a quarter of a million extra Pfizer doses have been donated to New Zealand from Spain, thanks to a deal with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
Ardern revealed on Sunday those vaccines are now in the country, while the delivery from Denmark is set to arrive mid-next week.
"I wish to express our appreciation for [Danish] Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen," Arden said.
"Combined the Denmark and Spain deals leave us in the strongest position possible to vaccinate at pace, protect our population and begin to move beyond with tough COVID restrictions.
"There is a vaccine there for everyone who wants...please get booked, get vaccinated and be safe. It could literally save your life."
The extra vaccination doses will tide the country over and prevent a slowing in the high vaccination rates sparked by alert level 4.
Aucklanders especially have been turning out in droves to get the jab, with more than 26,000 vaccinated on Saturday alone
They were being urged to get tested this weekend ahead of an alert level decision announcement tomorrow.
Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall told The AM Show last week that the current rate of vaccination - including more than 90,000 doses administered some days - could only be sustained for a few more weeks without securing additional doses.
