New Zealand's final cache of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines will expire in a month, with most of the country's $1.2 million supply having gone unused.
Under 9000 doses of the non-mRNA vaccine have been administered out of the 120,000 doses the country received for domestic use.
Last week, health authorities updated their advice for people seeking AstraZeneca vaccines with the doses available until September 4.
The remaining unused doses will reach their expiry date the following day, according to a spokesperson for Te Whatu Ora / Health NZ, though doses administered the day prior will remain effective.
In a statement, the agency's national immunisation programme operations manager Rachel MacKay said there were efforts to get people who chose AstraZeneca to get up-to-date with their vaccines.
"We have contacted people whose last dose was AstraZeneca, but who haven't received all their vaccinations to encourage them to make an appointment," she said.
"We expect this to result in increased vaccinations, so at this stage we can't say what percentage of the 120,000 doses will remain unused by September 5."
AstraZeneca doses were made available for Kiwis who couldn't take the Pfizer vaccine or wanted to be vaccinated with a non-mRNA option. It can also be used as a booster dose.
The 120,400 doses intended for domestic use were out of 7.6 million that the Government originally secured through an advance purchase order with AstraZeneca in late 2020. Over 6.7 million doses had been donated to the Covax facility for use in the Pacific and other countries, according to a spokesperson.
In March, then-Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins said there had been "very low uptake" of non-Pfizer vaccine options that had been made available for Kiwis, but that nothing else could've been done to reduce vaccine wastage.
"There will be more wastage, but if I went back to 2020, I wouldn't make those decisions differently on the basis of that," he said.
"Bearing in mind at that point that these vaccines were still in development, we committed to spending money on these vaccines, and even if we haven't taken delivery of them, we were still going to end up being on the hook for some of the commitments that we made there."
Those who can’t get Pfizer’s jab for medical reasons are among the eligible, Dr Ashley Bloomfield says. (Source: 1News)
The Government had agreed to pay upwards of $80 million for its advance order of AstraZeneca vaccines - with the cost of a single dose coming to around $10.60 - according to documents obtained by Newsroom.
Towards late 2020, it had bet on a "diversified portfolio" approach to Covid-19 vaccines with advanced orders placed from several manufacturers - including Johnson and Johnson, Novavax, AstraZeneca and Pfizer.
But in March 2021, the Government shifted its approach to an all-Pfizer rollout based on data showing the mRNA jab had higher levels of protection against infection.
A spokesperson for Te Whatu Ora said the Novavax jab would now become the primary option for people who couldn't or didn't want to take Pfizer.
"People in New Zealand unable to receive their AstraZeneca vaccination before September 5 or who are due their next AstraZeneca vaccination after that, should talk to their doctor or health provider about alternatives."
Ninety-five per cent of eligible adults in New Zealand have been double jabbed, primarily using the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.
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