New Zealand gives provisional approval to Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine

Initial batches expected to arrive by end of March, with frontline workers and those most at risk to go first

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has been provisionally approved for use in New Zealand, where the government will begin vaccinating frontline healthcare and border workers in the coming months.

Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister, said the approval was a positive step in the country's fight against Covid-19, of which there have been fewer than 2,000 cases nationally.