Police anticipate more arrests will result from the dismantling of a large drug syndicate made up of Auckland border workers and gang members. The organised criminal group has allegedly smuggled hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine…

About 20 people dived into Tauranga Harbour in a desperate rescue attempt after a car plunged into the water and began sinking fast with people inside, witnesses say.Police have confirmed one person died at the scene of the incident…

National’s new leader Chris Luxon had a few good lines up his sleeve for his first speech in Parliament’s free-for-all general debate today – but it was preceded by Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson’s traditional roasting of new…

An Auckland man who has been charged with murder following the Halloween night death of 2-year-old Arapera Moana Aroha Fia can now be identified. Name suppression lapsed this evening for 21-year-old Māngere resident Tyson Brown….

Contact-tracing during the first two months of the Delta outbreak was only above par when daily case numbers dropped after the first two weeks, and before they rose again in mid-October. Fewer than half of the close-plus contacts…

A grieving Dunedin father who went on a rampage after receiving devastating news related to his daughter’s death has been let down by the system, a judge says.Mark David Cummings, 46, appeared in the Auckland District Court this…

Pressure is mounting on the Government to join a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics next year led by the United States. Even one of Labour’s own MPs, Louisa Wall, who has a history of dissenting with her party, has…

Police are warning partygoers about a new drug which was been detected in the country for the first time.Synthetic cathinone dimethylpentylone is a new substance a which is reportedly being sold as MDMA.Very little is known about…

Fire and Emergency services are currently battling a “well involved” house fire in the Auckland suburb of Rosedale.A Fire and Emergency spokesman said they were alerted to the fire just before 3.30pm and there are currently five…

The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for use in booster shots for adults in Australia.

Australia's medicines authority, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), has given the green light to the shot being used as a booster for people aged 18 and over.

Until now, only the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine has been available for booster shots in Australia.

READ MORE: Victoria records its first known case of Omicron

As is advised with the Pfizer booster shot, the Moderna booster shot should be given six months after the second dose of any COVID-19 vaccine.

The TGA has also said immunocompromised people aged 12 and over can have a third shot as soon as 28 days after their second vaccine.

The TGA said its decision to allow the Moderna vaccine to be used for booster shots was guided by expert advice from the independent Advisory Committee on Vaccines.

"TGA provisionally approved the booster dose following careful evaluation of the available data supporting safety and efficacy," the TGA said.

The announcement comes after the Australian Government last week decided not to reduce the six-month period between people getting a second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and their booster shot.

The move was considered after the UK moved to reduce the time period between shots in response to the new Omicron variant of concern.