NZ to inoculate high-risk people first as COVID-19 vaccine gets full approval

FILE PHOTO: Vials labelled "COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine" and sryinge are seen in front of displayed Pfizer logo in this illustration taken, February 9, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

SYDNEY (Reuters) - New Zealand will first administer COVID-19 vaccines to quarantine personnel, front line health workers and airline staff, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said, as the government formally approved its use on Wednesday.

New Zealand's medicines regulator last week provisionally approved the use of the COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc and Germany's BioNTech.