Updated: 15 August 2021

It's been 18 months of stress and disruption - and the Covid-19 pandemic, which has already claimed 4.2 million lives around the world, is far from over. As cautionary research is released about the dangers of Coronavirus the importance of getting vaccinated against the virus is growing.

In New Zealand, two free doses of the gene-based Pfizer/BioNTech vaccinations to combat Covid-19 are being rolled out. Those at high risk will probably be among the 1 million New Zealanders who have received their first vaccination already. If you are aged between 16 and 60 and are in good health, get ready - those over 55 will be able to receive their shots next week, and everyone else will be eligible for free vaccinations within the next three months.

Why is it important to get vaccinated?

The obvious reason to ensure you get vaccinated is to look after your health and that of your family, and to protect the other people you encounter in your day-to-day life. While New Zealand is relatively isolated and has travel restrictions, we still have some contact with people who have returned from other countries, and contracting the disease is still possible. It is important to be fully vaccinated so you have as much protection as possible.

Covid-19 is also a rapidly changing and evolving virus, and the more people who are fully vaccinated the less chance there is that the virus will spread and mutate into something more even more dangerous. This is a real risk: a recent Israeli study found that the virus could potentially mutate to be up to 600 times more infectious than the deadly Delta strain, which was discovered in late 2020 and has led to a surge in hospitalisations and deaths worldwide.

The good news is around the world more than one billion vaccination doses have already been administered.

What are the different vaccines available?

At present the mRNA Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is the only Covid-19 vaccine available in New Zealand. This vaccine uses ground-breaking technology, and was created after accelerated medical research in response to the pandemic. One other mRNA vaccine is available overseas, Moderna. Other Covid 19 vaccines include more traditional viral-vector vaccines: the two that have received the most publicity globally are Oxford/AustraZeneca and Janssen. Both of these vaccines have also been approved for use by our health watchdog MedSafe, but have not received the go-ahead from the New Zealand Cabinet to be given to the public.

There has been plenty of debate over which vaccination is more effective, and it appears the new mRNA-based vaccines provide the most protection against Covid-19. A key message from the World Health Organisation has been don't wait for your preference: the important thing is to get vaccinated, especially if you are at high risk.

Pfizer/BioNTech This vaccine is estimated to be 95% effective at preventing serious illness between a week and two months after being vaccinated. Immunity wanes however as time goes on. Four to six months after your second dose, according to Pfizer, the vaccination will be 84% effective. There have been contradicting reports of how effective this vaccination is against the Delta variant of Covid. An English study found that with two doses, this vaccine was 88% effective at preventing infection from the Delta variant of Covid 19, but it appears this figure also wanes over time. Pfizer and BioNTech believe a third dose of the vaccine will further boost immune levels and is trying to get this approved in the United States. Fellow gene-based vaccine, Moderna, is also available to the public in countries including the US and the UK. Based on clinical trials, Moderna has a success rate of 94.1% for people who have taken two doses and who have not been infected with Covid before. A Canadian study suggests effectiveness against Delta variant is 72% after a single dose.

Johnson & Johnson has developed a viral vector vaccine, Janssen, which is also available in the UK and US. Your body is injected with a harmless version of a modified, vector virus. This type of vaccine has been around since the 1970s and was used to protect against Ebola. This vaccine is 85.4% effective against Covid as long as two doses are taken, according to the World Health Organisation. However the success rate against the Delta variant may be lower, one study putting it at 33%.

The Oxford/AstraZenenca viral vector vaccine is also widely available around the world. There have been widely differing reports about how effective it is, the WHO putting its effectiveness at around 63% (noting that the vaccine becomes much more effective if the doses have an eight-week to 12-week gap). A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found this vaccine is 67% effective against the Delta variant.

Other vaccines developed overseas include inactivated vaccines. These vaccines involve injecting the person with a dead version of the virus: the polio and influenza vaccines are examples. Chile used Sinovac’s inactivated Covid-19 vaccine, which was found to have 58.5% effectiveness at preventing symptomatic infection, and 86% successful in preventing hospitalisation. The difficulty with this type of vaccine is the virus needs to be grown under safe conditions and it can take a long time to develop.

Who is leading the way in vaccinations?

The United Arab Emirates, Canada, Western Europe and parts of South America have the highest rate of doses given per head of population.

According to Our World in Data, the UAE was in the lead with 71% of their population fully vaccinated. In New Zealand, only 16% of people are fully vaccinated. About 25% of the country has received at least one vaccination.

What stage is New Zealand at?

More than 1 million New Zealanders have received their first vaccination. New Zealand has been vaccinating high priority groups: this includes all MIQ workers and their families, those living in high risk environments (such as residential facilities like boarding schools or prisons), people with health conditions that put them at risk and all those over 65.

Vaccination of Group 4 (the general population) has also just begun, with people older than 60 able to get their vaccines from 28 July. It will progress in age bands. Those in the 16-35 age group will be the last to be vaccinated and will have to wait until October. At this stage, those under 16 are not able to be vaccinated.

What are the side effects?

Since vaccinations began there have been 7054 reports of side effects of the Pfizer vaccine in New Zealand. Only 313 of them were considered serious, and the most common were headaches, dizziness and lethargy.

Other common side effects of the Pfizer/BioNTech are pain or swelling and redness at the site of the injection, muscle aches, chills, joint pain, fever and nausea. Less common side effects are enlarged lymph nodes, pain in limbs, insomnia, and itching at the site of the injection.

Serious allergic reactions are possible, but very rare.

Booking an appointment and getting your vaccination

When you are eligible for a vaccine, your health provider should let you know. You can book online through the Ministry of Health website, or through your GP.

The current procedure is to get your vaccination in two doses. Previously the wait time between the first and second dose was three weeks, but this has now changed to six weeks as of 12 August 2021. This timing is a way to get optimal level of protection from the vaccine: but if you do delay the second dose, you don’t need to restart the course of vaccinations.

Keep an eye on your side effects and if you grow concerned, contact your doctor or talk to Healthline: 0800 358 5453

You can also report your adverse side effects online, through Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring (CARM)