Targeted second COVID-19 booster a step closer

Health

A law change passed today streamlines the process for allowing COVID-19 boosters to be given without requiring a prescription.

Health Minister Andrew Little said the changes made to the Medicines Act were a more enduring way to manage the administration of vaccine boosters from now on.

“The Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 Vaccine Technical Advisory Group recommended that people who are at high risk of getting very sick from a COVID-19 infection should have a second booster six months after the first,” Andrew Little said.

“The changes we have made today mean that the Director-General of Health now has the ability to make boosters available to those who need them, meaning people don’t need an individual prescription to get one.”

The Director-General of Health will next confirm who will be eligible to receive a second booster. That announcement is expected to happen later this week.”