Medsafe, New Zealand’s medicines regulator, only approves a vaccine for use if it is confident it complies with international standards and local requirements for quality, safety, and efficacy. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is currently the only COVID-19 vaccine to be approved in New Zealand.
But Dr Stephen Child, the chief medical officer for Southern Cross Health Insurance, has debunked the claims, saying they are untrue and the company follows the recommendations of the Ministry of Health and Medsafe.
“We would like to reassure our health insurance and life insurance policyholders that their policies will continue in the usual way and in no way be impacted if they receive a Medsafe-approved COVID-19 vaccine,” he said on Thursday.
Dr Child says if people need urgent health treatment after receiving a vaccine, they should go directly to a hospital’s Accident and Emergency unit since acute care is provided by the public health system.
“ACC also provides treatment and support to people if they have an adverse reaction to any vaccine if their criteria for treatment injury is met. This is why vaccine-related treatment injury is a standard exclusion in our Health Insurance plans,” Dr Child said.
“Therefore, as is current practice, if you develop symptoms from the COVID-19 vaccine or any other Medsafe-approved vaccine and require treatment, you can lodge a claim with ACC.”