The consignment of Pfizer vaccines that arrived into the country on Tuesday night will also be used as a booster vaccine against COVID-19.

This was confirmed by Minister for Health and Medical Services Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete yesterday.

He said the Moderna dose numbers were going down and thus the Pfizer vaccines would also be used as a booster dose.

The Pfizer doses would also help vaccinate children over 12 years.

“This is a practice that has been used elsewhere, some places are using Pfizer boosters and also Moderna.

“This has been very well studied and the evidence provides proof that it was safe. We are working with UNICEF and our multilateral partners in this area.”

Dr Waqainabete said the vaccine was likely to be administered from next week.

Permanent Secretary Dr James Fong was on hand to receive the latest consignment of Pfizer vaccines when they arrived on Tuesday night.

It was the first delivery of 175,000 Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses.

Australia would provide over 530,000 doses of Pfizer to Fiji, in partnership with New Zealand and UNICEF Pacific.

This would bring the total number of vaccines supplied by Australia to over 1.6 million.

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