A Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is administered as part of the global vaccine rollout. An in-principle agreement has been signed with Janssen Pharmaceutica to purchase up to five million vaccines - likely to be a single dose. The other deal signed in December would secure New Zealand 7.6 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine - enough for 3.8 million people. Unlike the flu shots New Zealanders typically get each year, the Covid-19 vaccine doesn't contain any live viruses. The Novavax vaccine is a "protein" vaccine and uses only harmless fragments of the virus shells that mimic the Covid-19 virus, to safely generate an immune response.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 19, 2021 20:37 UTC