Kia ora

 

Thank you for taking the time to write to Hon Chris Hipkins, Minister for
COVID-19 Response, Minister of Education, Minister for the Public Sector
and Leader of the House.

We are receiving a significant amount of correspondence at the moment and,
although your email will be carefully considered and noted, it is not
possible to respond to each individual email. However, please note that
this is an automatic response and we will endeavour to respond to your
individual queries as soon as we can.

All parts of New Zealand south of the Auckland boundary moved to Alert
Level 3 at 11.59pm Tuesday 31 August 2021. This setting will remain in
place for one week and Cabinet will review this decision on Monday 6
September 2021.

Auckland will remain at Alert Level 4 for a further two weeks. Cabinet
will meet on Monday 13 September 2021 to review the Alert Level setting
for Auckland.

Northland is expected to remain at Alert Level 4 until 11.59pm Thursday 2
September 2021. Cabinet will review the Alert Level setting for Northland
later this week.

Information about Alert Level 3 is available
at [1]https://covid19.govt.nz/alert-levels-and...
about Alert Level 4
at [2]https://covid19.govt.nz/alert-levels-and....
Advice about travel can be found
at [3]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise....

The locations of interest are set out
at [4]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
encourage anyone who has been at one of the locations of interest at the
time specified to self-isolate and call Healthline on 0800 358 5453. You
can find the nearest testing centre to you
at [5]https://www.healthpoint.co.nz/covid-19/.

We appreciate that this is a challenging time. If you need to talk, you
can call or text 1737 at any time. Mental health and wellbeing resources
are also available
at [6]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
about the financial support available to individuals and businesses can be
found at [7]https://covid19.govt.nz/business-and-mon....

We also understand that there are several other aspects to the response
that are very important to people. You can find more information about:

o Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ)
at [8]https://www.miq.govt.nz/, including how to request an emergency
allocation
at [9]https://www.miq.govt.nz/travel-to-new-ze...
make a complaint or request a review of your application by
emailing [10]https://www.miq.govt.nz/about/contact-us....
o Travel with Australia
at [11]https://covid19.govt.nz/travel/quarantin...
you are in Australia, please register
at [12]https://www.safetravel.govt.nz/ and if it is an emergency,
contact the Consulate on +64 99 20 20 20.
o Vaccines at [13]https://covid19.govt.nz/covid-19-vaccines/, including
how to book your vaccine
at [14]https://bookmyvaccine.covid19.health.nz/... by calling 0800 28
29 26.
o Vaccine data and statistics
at [15]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
Medsafe’s vaccine safety monitoring reports
at [16]https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/vac...
o The Government’s plan to reconnect New Zealand with the rest of the
world
at [18]https://covid19.govt.nz/reconnecting-new....

Please remember to take care, and be kind. We have beaten COVID-19 before,
and we can do it again.

Ngā mihi,

Office of Hon Chris Hipkins

Minister for COVID-19 Response | Minister of Education | Minister for the
Public Sector | Leader of the House | MP for Remutaka

show quoted sections

Kia ora

 

Thank you for taking the time to write to Hon Chris Hipkins, Minister for
COVID-19 Response, Minister of Education, Minister for the Public Sector
and Leader of the House.

We are receiving a significant amount of correspondence at the moment and,
although your email will be carefully considered and noted, it is not
possible to respond to each individual email. However, please note that
this is an automatic response and we will endeavour to respond to your
individual queries as soon as we can.

You can find the latest information and guidance about Alert Levels at
[1]https://covid19.govt.nz/alert-levels-and...
The locations of interest are set out
at [2]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
encourage anyone who has been at one of the locations of interest at the
time specified to self-isolate and call Healthline on 0800 358 5453. You
can find the nearest testing centre to you
at [3]https://www.healthpoint.co.nz/covid-19/.

We appreciate that this is a challenging time. If you need to talk, you
can call or text 1737 at any time. Mental health and wellbeing resources
are also available
at [4]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
about the financial support available to individuals and businesses can be
found at [5]https://covid19.govt.nz/business-and-mon....

We also understand that there are several other aspects to the response
that are very important to people. You can find more information about:

o Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ)
at [6]https://www.miq.govt.nz/, including how to request an emergency
allocation
at [7]https://www.miq.govt.nz/travel-to-new-ze...
make a complaint or request a review of your application by
emailing [8]https://www.miq.govt.nz/about/contact-us....
o Travel with Australia
at [9]https://covid19.govt.nz/travel/quarantin...
you are in Australia, please register
at [10]https://www.safetravel.govt.nz/ and if it is an emergency,
contact the Consulate on +64 99 20 20 20.
o Vaccines at [11]https://covid19.govt.nz/covid-19-vaccines/, including
how to book your vaccine
at [12]https://bookmyvaccine.covid19.health.nz/... by calling 0800 28
29 26.
o Vaccine data and statistics
at [13]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
Medsafe’s vaccine safety monitoring reports
at [14]https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/vac...
o The Government’s plan to reconnect New Zealand with the rest of the
world
at [16]https://covid19.govt.nz/reconnecting-new....

Please remember to take care, and be kind. We have beaten COVID-19 before,
and we can do it again.

Ngā mihi,

Office of Hon Chris Hipkins

Minister for COVID-19 Response | Minister of Education | Minister for the
Public Sector | Leader of the House | MP for Remutaka

show quoted sections

Kia ora Niki

 

Thank you for writing to the Minister for COVID-19 Response, Hon Chris
Hipkins, requesting information about the use of the Novavax COVID-19
vaccine in New Zealand. We sincerely apologise for the delay in getting
back to you about this.

 

We understand that you would like to have the option of being vaccinated
another COVID-19 vaccine, and we appreciate that you wish to have
clarification around when alternative vaccines, like Novavax, may become
available. 

 

Novavax has commenced an application to be a COVID-19 vaccine supplier to
New Zealand and has submitted data to Medsafe for review. Medsafe is
currently waiting on further data from Novavax to allow Medsafe to make an
assessment of the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness for use in New
Zealand.

 

At this stage, the Government have secured purchase agreements with four
pharmaceutical companies to manage the risk of vaccine failure and to
ensure timely access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. Medsafe has
granted provisional approval of the Pfizer, Janssen and AstraZeneca
COVID-19 vaccines. Medsafe’s provisional approval does not mean that we
have committed to using these vaccines as part of New Zealand’s COVID-19
immunisation rollout in 2021. Before a COVID-19 vaccine can be used in New
Zealand, Cabinet must agree on a ‘decision to use’.

 

Our immunisation plan is currently based on rolling out the Pfizer
COVID-19 vaccine. We have access to 10 million doses (enough for 5 million
people) of the Pfizer vaccine for everyone who is eligible and wishes to
be vaccinated.

 

Please be assured that any decision that may be made about alternative
vaccines will be clearly communicated to the public at:
[1]https://covid19.govt.nz/alert-levels-and....

 

We encourage you to continue to engage with your general practitioner (GP)
about this matter. Your GP is best placed to provide advice about COVID-19
vaccines.

 

Thank you again for writing. We wish you well.

 

 

Ngā mihi,

Catherine

 

[2]cid:image001.jpg@01D7C0D8.24A23C80 On behalf of
Lydia
Verschaffelt
| Health
Private
Secretary

Office of
Hon Chris
Hipkins   

Minister for
COVID-19
Response |
Minister of
Education |
Minister for
the Public
Service |
Leader of
the House

Parliament
Buildings,
Private Bag
18041,
Wellington
6160, New
Zealand

 

 

 

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