Pfizer has confirmed that about 1 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine will be delivered to New Zealand during July.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed the deliveries at the post-Cabinet press conference this afternoon.
This would nearly double the total number of doses delivered so far to 1.9 million - enough to vaccinate a quarter of all New Zealanders.
"The doses will arrive in weekly drops, ramping up in quantity from mid-July as we start to move to the wider population roll out," Hipkins said.
"The drops will enable us to continue vaccinating Groups 1, 2 and 3, while giving us the certainty needed to start the general population rollout [from the end of July] as planned."
District Health Boards can start to ramp up the rollout through Group 3 from mid-July, he said, which included those over the age of 65, and people with disabilities and some underlying health conditions.
Hipkins said the Government was working with DHBs to make sure they could scale up in early July in line with vaccine shipments.
New Zealand shouldn't run out of vaccines at the end of July, even though the largest shipments were due at the end of that month, he said.
Current dose rates of 20,000 a day would increase to up to 50,000 a day by August, the Prime Minister said.
Pfizer had also advised its remaining schedule was on track for 2021. Now there was a firm idea of the delivery schedule, Cabinet would make further decisions on the rollout on Monday, she said. This would include details of the online booking system.
Ardern said having a vaccinated population gave another layer of security against outbreaks, along with border measures.
Other countries experiencing third waves were losing lives and needed to be prioritised, she said, and New Zealand was in "the right place" in the global rollout.
New Zealand had so far vaccinated more people than Australia per capita, Ardern said. Over a quarter of a million people were now fully vaccinated.
Last Wednesday at the last vaccine rollout update, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said there were about 260,000 doses in stock, and weekly deliveries for the rest of June were expected to be around 50,000.
At the current rate of about 20,000 vaccines being administered a day, stocks will be low - or almost all gone - by the end of the month.
Hipkins said work was "well advanced" to set up more vaccination sites, mass vaccination events, and bring more GPs and pharmacies on board to help with the rollout.
"While we know the ongoing pandemic can impact vaccine delivery schedules, Pfizer has given us further assurances that the remaining deliveries for 2021 are also on track, just as their deliveries to date have been."
Earlier today, Ardern's chief press secretary Andrew Campbell confirmed to The New Zealand Herald that the Prime Minister would receive her first Covid-19 vaccine by the end of June.
So far, 668,115 Pfizer vaccine doses have been administered - 432,509 first doses and 235,606 second doses. Currently, the rollout to people not in vaccine priority groups would start by the end of July.
Several of her ministers had also received the jab. Hipkins received his first dose on March 31, as did Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall.
Health Minister Andrew Little got his first dose in Wellington on April 7, the same day Associate Health Minister Peeni Henare received his in Porirua. Pacific Peoples Minister Aupito William Sio received his the following day in Auckland.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was among the first across the ditch to get a vaccination, on February 21, saying it was important to show the public there was confidence in the safety of the vaccine.
