People who have arrived in Australia from New Zealand since January 14 are asked to self isolate, and arrange to get tested and stay in isolation until they receive a negative result, Health Minister Greg Hunt said.

People with flights booked to arrive in the next 72 hours are told to reconsider their need to travel, because they will be required to enter hotel quarantine on their entry into Australia if they do choose to fly.

On Sunday, NZ authorities revealed a 56-year-old woman had tested positive for the virus after completing her 14-day isolation after arrival in New Zealand, believed to have caught it from another traveller in quarantine.

The decision was made by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee based on the information that the woman had the South African strain, which is believed to be more transmissible, and the high number of exposure sites.

"It's just the combination of the transmissibility of the variant, and the circumstances of the particular case, the time between exiting hotel quarantine and the confirmation of the South African variant and the number of places that were visited, which led the AHPPC to give us categorical strong, clear, unanimous advice," Mr Hunt said.

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Earlier on Monday, the Australian government triumphantly announced the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine have been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

The regulator said on Monday that after an independent review, the vaccine had met high safety standards.

The vaccine has been approved for people 16 years and older, with two doses required at least three weeks apart.

The federal government said the first vaccines were expected to be administered in late February, a slight delay on earlier predictions of mid-February due to production issues.

If there are delays, the vaccine could be rolled out in March, but the government has stressed advice from Pfizer that a February rollout was likely.

Despite the delays in production, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said "no Australian vaccines - i.e. vaccines destined for Australia - have been diverted anywhere else".

Mr Hunt said he had spoken with representatives of Pfizer, who had assured him they would be able to ship the first doses of the vaccine, of which Australia has ordered 10 million, in time to start vaccinating in February.

"Those shipping times were provided last night, which means we are in a position to commence in late February and our guidance has always been for a window," Mr Hunt said.

Unlike in many other countries, Australia's regulator has not used emergency processes to approve the Pfizer vaccine for use, instead using a prioritised provisional determination process.

There were fears the approval process could be delayed after Norway reported a number of deaths in elderly and frail aged care residents after receiving the vaccine.

Despite this, the Therapeutic Goods Administration has not yet released specific advice on whether the vaccine is approved for the very elderly or terminally ill.

That decision will be left to doctors to decide if their patients should receive the vaccine.

"The TGA advice - and we have been concerned about this - for the very elderly and frail, that will need a very careful clinical decision," Health Secretary Brendan Murphy said.