New Zealand will now allow children aged 12 to 15 to get vaccinated against COVID-19 with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Previously, only those aged 16 and over were eligible.

What You Need To Know

  • New Zealand will now allow children aged 12 to 15 to get vaccinated against COVID-19 with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine

  • Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that her government did not make the decision lightly, but stressed the safety of the vaccines as part of their decision-making

  • Only about 20% of New Zealand's population is fully vaccinated, one of the lowest rates among developed nations

  • New Zealand entered lockdown earlier this week over one COVID-19 case, the first locally-transmitted case since February

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that her government did not make the decision lightly, but stressed the safety of the vaccines as part of their decision-making.

"Many of us are parents ourselves and take this duty of making decisions about other people's children extremely seriously but it is safe and it's the right thing to do," she said.

Parents and caregivers will be able to bring their children in the 12-15 age range with them to get vaccinated, Ardern said: "If you've already booked, just bring them along please just make sure while you do that you work hard to keep up your physical distancing from others."

Ardern reassured New Zealanders that there was enough supply to go around, and this new expansion of the age range would not impact vaccine availability for other residents.

Only about 20% of New Zealand's population is fully vaccinated, one of the lowest rates among developed nations.

The announcement Thursday came as the nation remains in a strict lockdown as it deals with a new outbreak of the fast-spreading delta variant, its first virus outbreak in six months.

New Zealand entered lockdown earlier this week over one COVID-19 case, the first locally-transmitted case since February.

"Just as we successfully stayed home and saved lives last year, I’m asking the team of 5 million to unite once more to defeat what is likely to be this more dangerous and transmissible variant of the virus," Ardern said earlier this week.

Ardern said there were 11 new infections, bringing the total in the outbreak to 21. She said the outbreak had been linked to a passenger who returned from Sydney earlier this month.

On Tuesday, the government imposed a lockdown of at least three days across the country and of at least seven days in Auckland and Coromandel. New Zealand health workers are using only the Pfizer vaccine in their inoculation campaign.

Only 26 people have died from COVID-19 in New Zealand, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.