It's looking likely New Zealand will follow the likes of the UK, Australia and South Korea and shorten the wait for COVID-19 vaccine booster shots.
The efficacy of the current vaccines, developed to fight the original strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, wanes in the months after the second dose.
A US study this week found their protection against infection starts declining at the three-month mark, accelerating after the fourth. And the early evidence suggests the Omicron variant is so mutated, two doses hardly stops it at all - but a third dramatically boosts the immune system's antibody response.
"The third dose also showed stronger T-cell immune responses were still generated, which is important as T-cells are considered to indicate protection against severe COVID-19 disease," said Dianne Sika-Paotonu, University of Otago Wellington immunologist.
"This supports the need for a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in the form of a vaccine booster after the initial two doses, in order to help protect against the Omicron variant."
Health officials and experts were due to discuss a potential booster rollout in New Zealand on Tuesday. The Ministry of Health failed to respond to Newshub's requests for updates on Wednesday and Thursday, but on Friday afternoon said: "The COVID-19 Vaccine Technical Advisory Group (CV TAG) has looked at emerging data on the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant on vaccination effectiveness and the requirement for booster doses. CV TAG has provided advice to the Director-General for consideration by ministers."
Earlier on Friday Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield told media they will be discussing boosters with Cabinet later that day.
"We're seeing from the evidence overseas that's emerging pretty quickly that three doses of the Pfizer vaccine gets you that high level of protection," he told Newstalk ZB.
Currently the wait is six months - most Kiwis aren't eligible yet, only having had their second dose in the past few months, but with Omicron already on our doorstep Dr Bloomfield fears not enough people will get boosted in time.
He said the evidence so far suggests only about half of people will get the booster as soon as they're eligible.
"We don't want [people waiting] eight or nine months. It may be that the shorter interval is something that will encourage people to get that booster [within] six months."
South Korea shortened its booster wait from six to three months last week, while Australia went from six to five. The UK cut its wait from six to three months in November.
He wouldn't reveal what advice he'd be giving to ministers, saying he's only just got the details from the vaccine advisory group and ministers are yet to read it. An announcement is likely before Christmas, he said.
No shortages are expected - Dr Bloomfield said we've got 2.5 million doses already in the country, and "deliveries right through 2022 scheduled".
"We know we've got the supply on order - there's no issues around the supply - and of course we've also got the infrastructure in place to deliver the vaccine in great numbers once the decisions are taken," he told RNZ in a separate interview.
In the meantime, with Omicron not in the community (yet), Dr Bloomfield said Kiwis shouldn't be cancelling whatever summer plans they've made. He certainly will be keeping his fingers crossed, hoping for a long-awaited break over the holiday period.
"It's been quite a year, 2021, and Omicron has shown us the virus isn't quite done with us yet, as much as we would like it to be. So let's rest and refresh, ready for 2022."
