Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says the public should expect an update on booster doses for younger people in the next week or two.
Bloomfield said he’s received advice that 16 and 17 year old's would benefit from booster vaccinations to protect from the Omicron variant.
"The balance of risks and benefits is there for - and you see a number of other countries do this - is there for 16 and 17 year old's," he said,
"They don’t think there’s sufficient evidence at this point to routinely offer a booster to 12 to 15 year old's, other than on the advice of a clinician who looks after them if they’ve got a disease that compromises their immunity."
The advice came from the Covid Vaccine Technical Advisory Group which is made up of infectious disease, vaccine and paediatric experts and is chaired by the Ministry of Health’s chief science adviser.
A spokesperson for the ministry said in a statement the organisation is considering the information and ‘"further advice will be provided in due course."
There were 17,522 new cases of Covid in NZ on Monday.
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