Wellington — Air New Zealand will transform one of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners into a Covid-19 vaccine clinic this weekend to promote uptake of the jab.

The event takes place on Saturday at Auckland Airport, where pre-registered participants will enter through the plane's front door and into Business Premier class.

While in the premium seating area they will receive one dose of the Pfizer/ BioNTech vaccine.

"They will then move through the cabin into Economy where a snack service will commence while they wait to disembark after the observation period," according to a Facebook event page.

New Zealand's vaccination campaign was slow to take off, and to date only about 50 per cent of the population has been protected against Covid-19. The country only uses the Pfizer/ BioNTech preparation.

New Zealand closed its external borders at the start of the pandemic and imposed strict travel restrictions. Many of its 5 million citizens have not boarded a plane since.

The government announced this week it would make coronavirus vaccinations mandatory for the education, health and disability sectors.

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