The Novavax Covid-19 vaccine has been approved in New Zealand for those aged 18 and over.
Vials with the Nuvaxovid vaccine against the Covid-19 coronavirus are seen at the CIZ Tegel vaccination center in Berlin. Photo: AFP or licensors
The first doses are expected to arrive this month.
The Novavax vaccine Nuvaxovid is the fourth vaccine to be approved by Medsafe.
Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Janssen are all approved for use in New Zealand.
Nuvaxovid is a two-dose protein subunit vaccine.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said, for some people, the arrival of Novavax would be the extra incentive required to get vaccinated.
He said officials were working with Novavax to confirm the delivery schedule and roll-out start date.
Addressing media at the 1pm Covid-19 response briefing this afternoon, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said deliveries were expected by mid-March.
Bloomfield said Novavax was approved for a primary course and was not yet available for boosters, but that was expected to come some time down the track.
He said he knew some people had been waiting for Novavax. There are over 200,000 people eligible for the vaccine and had not yet got it, and he encouraged them to do so.
"It's a good vaccine, it's an effective vaccine and it's a relatively safe vaccine."
He also said there was good evidence that Pfizer's mRNA-based vaccine had a very good safety profile, and it was incredibly effective, so the advice remained that the majority of the vaccination programme would continue to be Pfizer-based. Bloomfield added ministers agreed with the assessment.