17 Dec 2021

Omicron's here: should boosters be brought forward urgently?

From Nine To Noon, 9:05 am on 17 December 2021
An Israeli health worker displays a vial of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine, at the Maccabi Health Service in Jerusalem on August 20, 2021 as Israel launches its campaign to give booster shots to people aged over 40,in a bid to stem spiking infections driven by the Delta variant.

Photo: AFP

A Covid modeller says the virus booster programme should be rolled out as soon as possible saying without it, we could see tens of thousands of cases a day of the new omicron variant.

Cabinet ministers meet today to consider whether the Pfizer booster programme should be urgently brought forward. A number of countries around the world have done so and there are calls for New Zealand to follow suit.

Kathryn speaks with Professor Michael Plank from the University of Canterbury, who has carried out initial modelling on what the omicron variant might mean.

Also, Dr Fran Priddy is from the research group Vaccine Alliance Aotearoa.