New Zealand changed law to allow shorter COVID booster intervals
August 19, 2026
Summarised by Centrist
Medsafe approved Pfizer’s first COVID booster for use at least six months after the primary course, but the government progressively shortened the interval to four and then three months without the regulator changing its approved terms.
Emergency orders initially allowed the national programme to operate outside the approved data sheet. Parliament later gave the Director-General of Health an enduring power to authorise off-label uses of Covid-19 vaccines.
Medsafe approved Pfizer boosters at a minimum six-month interval in November 2021. The COVID Vaccine Technical Advisory Group initially supported six months before recommending five months as Omicron emerged.
Four days later, Cabinet approved a four-month interval following advice from Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield. The shorter period increased the number immediately eligible for boosters from about 480,000 to 1.19 million.
Because four months remained outside the Medsafe-approved data sheet, most vaccinators could not administer the dose under the ordinary off-label prescribing rules without an authorised prescriber.
The government instead used an Immediate Modification Order under the Epidemic Preparedness Act.
The order modified the operation of the Medicines Act so third doses could be administered after four months without an individual prescription.
In January 2022, the advisory group considered shortening the interval again. It initially said a three-month interval should not necessarily apply to everyone and suggested decisions could reflect age and medical risk.
The group nevertheless formally recommended three months on 1 February, citing earlier protection against Omicron hospitalisation and similar moves in five Australian jurisdictions. A second emergency order gave the change legal effect two days later.
The approved Pfizer data sheet still recommended six months.
Off-label prescribing is common in New Zealand, but it is ordinarily a clinical decision made for an individual patient. The booster orders instead established an off-label interval as a centrally determined national programme rule.
The temporary mechanism became more difficult when officials began planning fourth doses for about 834,000 people. Pfizer had not sought approval for another dose and indicated it did not intend to do so.
In June 2022, Parliament passed an amendment to the Medicines Act creating section 34A. It allowed the Director-General to authorise a COVID vaccine outside its approved data sheet, including different populations, dose numbers and intervals.
The amendment also allowed an authorised off-label use to be promoted without being treated as a new medicine under section 20.
No public consultation was undertaken, and the Bill passed its remaining parliamentary stages on 21 June.
The Royal Commission examined Medsafe’s approval process but did not examine the subsequent off-label authorisation and advertising regime.
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