GPs heartened by record vaccination numbers

The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners says the number of people vaccinated over the past week shows how committed the country is to fighting COVID-19.

Dr Bryan Betty, the College’s Medical Director says, "New Zealand is rightly focusing on stopping the spread of this latest outbreak and keeping it out of our communities, but this strategy is dependent on us as individuals and our uptake of the vaccine.

"The numbers we are seeing each day is a great sign that people are serious about protecting themselves, and others, against COVID-19 but we need to keep this up.

"We have seen today’s sad news about the death of a woman from myocarditis a month ago and while this is a very rare side-effect, it is no less devastating for her family.

"As with all medications, there will be a small number who experience side-effects. The message from health professionals is still the same; as a country we need to keep vaccinating to stop the virus," says Dr Betty.

More than 90 GP practices are now delivering COVID-19 vaccinations after the College’s Foundation Standard certification was accepted into part of the eligibility process for practices wanting to provide COVID-19 vaccinations.

The Pfizer vaccine has been administered to millions of people worldwide and our profession has been closely watching international vaccine rollouts and looking at the data produced - hence the recent change in the length of time between the first and second doses to six weeks.

"The data still shows that the benefits of vaccination greatly outweigh the risks of contracting COVID-19 and experiencing vaccine side-effects." says Dr Betty.

As well as stamping out this current outbreak, there is also a long-term benefit for ensuring all eligible people are vaccinated.

"Vaccinating as many people as possible now, also creates another level of safety when the time comes for our borders to open up again," says Dr Betty.

In New Zealand, adverse events following vaccinations are reported to the Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring (CARM).

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