8 Mar 2021

Flight attendant with Covid-19 had first vaccination jab days earlier

12:26 pm on 8 March 2021

An airline crew member who tested positive for Covid-19 received a vaccination shot for the coronavirus last week.

Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.

The crew member received the first of two Pfizer vaccines a few days before the positive Covid-19 test. Photo: AFP

A spokesperson for the Prime Minister's office confirmed the Air New Zealand flight attendant, as a key frontline worker, received the first of two Pfizer jabs.

The crew member arrived home from Japan on 28 February and initially returned a negative test result. She received a vaccination shot on 3 March, RNZ understands.

How the Pfizer vaccine works.

How the Pfizer vaccine works. Photo: Source: Pfizer/BioNTech/BBC

The woman tested positive on 7 March following a swab taken during routine surveillance testing, and has moved into Auckland's quarantine facility.

The individual's three household family members were tested and the results were are all negative.

Fourteen other air crew who were on the same flight were being contacted, isolated and retested.

The Ministry of Health believed the public risk is low because the person was mostly at home during the latest lockdown.

A Countdown supermarket near Auckland Airport which the person visited on 3 March is a location of interest, and anyone at the store between 12.07pm and 1.22pm that day is asked to monitor their health for 10 days and get tested if symptoms arise.

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