Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield and Associate Minister Peeni Henare have announced the Covid-19 vaccination rollout is expected to ramp up over the coming weeks.

The milestone of 100,000 people vaccinated is expected to be passed in the next couple of days, with 90,200 vaccines administered to date

The Pfizer vaccine, which is highly effective, was obtained with advanced purchase agreements which remain in place with other providers, Ashley says. 

This would help mitigate any supply issues - not that Pfizer have outlined any issues thus far.

The Janssen vaccine is the next in line to receive the health nod, with a final approval expected to be made on April 15.

He says New Zealand's programme has been "rigorous". 

New Zealand and Australia have been in the position of rolling out a vaccination programme while Covid was not in the community.

Officials have been talking to people in Israel and the United Kingdom to help with the rollout.

He also says the Ministry will have much more up-to-date information on its website about the vaccine effort.

 Associate Minister Peeni Henare says he received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine this morning.

"I can report that I am well - I look forward to spreading the message around the vaccine.”

He will promote the vaccine in the South Island to Māori communities this week.

He says the principles of the vaccine programme was around equity within the priority groups, and says the MoH has been in conversations with Māori health providers about the rollout.

Iwi leaders and communications networks have been utilised, and social media will be used too.

He is working with Māori health providers to train more Māori to administer the vaccine.

Last week, the Government reported just under 66,300 vaccines had been administered to date.

About 52,183 New Zealanders had received a single dose, and 16,483 had received both, it said.

For the next couple of months, officials expect 7000-8000 people to be vaccinated each day.

The Government aimed to ramp up to 50,000-60,000 vaccinations a day, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said last week.

As the number of New Zealanders getting the jab continues to grow, so too does the number of ministers getting the vaccine.

Hipkins got the jab last week; Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall got hers the following day.

This morning, Health Minister Andrew Little received his vaccine at Wellington Regional Hospital.

"The theme for World Health Day 2021 is 'building a fairer, healthier world for everyone'," he told NZ Doctor, "a theme that certainly resonates in the wake of how Covid-19 has affected so many whānau around Aotearoa."

Vaccination, he said, was the safest and most effective way to protect people against Covid-19.

"The vaccination programme will help put the nation back on track so we can once again put our full focus on improving the equity and outcomes of our health system."

The Government had said it wanted to get all its health-focused ministers vaccinated in the coming weeks.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won't be getting her vaccine until the general rollout mid-year.

"I do want to demonstrate that it's not only safe to take at the time but long term it's safe, and so I will do it early on ... before we start the mass rollout," she told the AM Show last week.