The Cook Islands government has purchased ultra-low temperature freezers to store the Covid-19 Pfizer vaccine, with their vaccination programme expected to start in May.
Prime Minister Mark Brown confirmed there were two minus 70-degree freezers ready and waiting to store the vaccines and another was on its way.
Brown said the infrastructre to support a super cold vaccine was not an issue for the Cook Islands.
Photo: Supplied / Ministry of Health
He said with the cold chain storage on track, they were ready to go as soon as the vaccines were made available to them.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed that a vaccine roll-out in the Cooks will happen simultaneously to New Zealand's roll-out, especially considering there are around 17,000 people living in the Cook Islands.
Ms Ardern said New Zealand is looking to take over liability if there are any problems caused by the vaccines.
An exact date on when the roll-out will happen in the Cooks has not been confirmed.
The New Zealand government paid more than $10 million to secure the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine.
