WELLINGTON, July 5 (Xinhua) -- The largest shipment of Pfizer vaccines yet has arrived two days ahead of schedule thanks to a joint effort by the Ministry of Health, Pfizer and logistics company DHL, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said on Monday.

The shipment of 150,000 doses touched down on Sunday afternoon. The vaccines were taken straight from the tarmac at Auckland airport to the storage and distribution center, where quality checks were carried out to ensure ultra-low temperatures were maintained during the flight and that none of the vials were damaged in transit, Hipkins said in a statement.

"Staff worked late last night to pack and get the vaccine ready for shipment by road and air to District Health Boards (DHBs) and vaccination centers around the country today," Hipkins said.

"With our first July shipment safely on the ground and 1 million doses arriving this month, over the coming weeks we can start to ramp up the number of vaccines being administered," he said.

New Zealand had distributed nearly all of its supply of the Pfizer vaccine in storage, giving DHBs enough stock to last until Wednesday, said the minister. Enditem

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