The eligibility age for the second Covid vaccine booster will be lowered for Māori and Pasifika, it was announced today.
Everyone over the age of 16 in New Zealand is eligible for the first booster and currently those over 50 are eligible for the second booster, as well as health and disability workers over the age of 30 years.
However, after health officials reviewed data in New Zealand, advice was offered to the Director-General of Health that the second booster eligibility age for Māori and Pasifika people be lowered down to the age of 40 years.
In light of this, from this Friday, November 18, the second booster will be made available to Māori and Pasifika people aged from 40 years and up.
However, you can only receive a Covid vaccine if it has been three months since a documented case of Covid-19.
Chief science adviser Dr Ian Town said the decision is based on recent infection and death data in New Zealand.
"What we showed in that work is that the risk of death from Covid-19 is around twice for Māori and Pacific people and that risk kicks in earlier, around the age of 40.
"They also have a two to three times risk of being admitted to hospital," he said at a Covid media update this afternoon.
It comes as there has been a recent uptick in cases around the motu, with an average of around 20,000 a week.
Today officials warned over summer that cases could peak at 10 - 11,000 cases per day, according to modelling.
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