From today (Friday August 5) New Zealanders aged 55-59 will be able to book their Covid-19 vaccine, five days earlier than planned.

There are about 300,000 people in this group, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

“Because of the great response we’re seeing from the earlier groups, we are now in position to open the 55-plus age band for vaccinations earlier than we planned,” the Ministry of Health primary care vaccination and immunisation programme lead Dr Joe Bourne said.

“This is also due to the hard work of district health boards, which continue to add capacity to their vaccination programmes.”

People in the 55-plus age band who haven’t already been vaccinated will receive an invitation by letter, text and email, or they can go to Book My Vaccine to make an appointment.

People in this group don’t have to wait to receive an invitation. They can make their own booking by visiting bookmyvaccine.covid19.health.nz, or by calling the 0800 28 29 26 COVID Vaccination Healthline (8am-8pm, seven days a week).

People in other groups who are eligible and who are not vaccinated yet can also continue to book – there’s no cut-off and they won’t miss out, the Ministry statement said.

“We now have the supply we need to continue to open age bands. One million doses of the vaccine were delivered in July, and another 1.5 million will be delivered in August,” Joe said.

“Our capacity to vaccinate people is increasing each week, as is the number of sites where people can be vaccinated.”

He said more primary care sites are coming on stream to administer the vaccine, the majority of which are GP practices but also some pharmacies and hauora.

“By getting vaccinated people are protecting themselves, their whânau and playing their part in protecting New Zealand - it will save lives and help us to open up the country further,” Joe said.

More than 317,000 bookings have been made in Book My Vaccine since New Zealanders aged 60-64 became eligible on July 28. There are now more than 950,000 active bookings in Book My Vaccine.