Pfizer says it remains committed to getting 1.5 million doses of its vaccine into New Zealand this year.
In a statement, the drug company said: "Pfizer is committed to delivering on its agreement with the New Zealand government to supply 1.5 million doses of its vaccine for Covid-19 over the course of 2021.
"At this time, we are on track to deliver the first doses in February 2021. However, we look forward to receiving further details on the EU proposal and assessing its impact on patients."
The EU has laid out new export rules for pharmaceutical companies producing Covid-19 vaccines for third-party countries, and there are concerns that the rules might disrupt the global supply of vaccines.
"We understand the EU proposed notification process is aimed at increasing transparency and does not intend to restrict global supply to patients," the Pfizer statement continues.
"It is critical that governments do not impose export restrictions or other trade barriers that risk creating uncertainty and disrupting supply of vaccine to patients around the world.
"Pfizer will continue to work closely with the Government to support their vaccine implementation plans."
The Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech must be kept at ultra-cold temperatures in its journey from the production line to a patient's arm. Photo / Getty Images
College of GPs medical director and former Pharmac deputy medical director Bryan Betty said the EU export restrictions were concerning and it was time for New Zealand to also start the conversation around manufacturing capability here.
He said it was important to get the vaccine in time.
"There's three major issues here: there is a huge global demand and this nationalistic type approach that Europe may be taking could disrupt supply.
"The second thing is we do see manufacturing problems with medications all the time.
"And the third issue is we're at the end of a long global supply chain, and as we saw last year with the flu vaccination, there was recurrent disruption to the supply of vaccine into the country."
He said the Government's contracts with the vaccine companies should be watertight, and there might even be financial penalties, but the global competition for the vaccine was something to watch for.
It would be ideal to have all of the country vaccinated by the end of the year, but there could be setbacks.
"We need to be realistic about that possibility. It may be out of New Zealand's control."
