NEW ZEALAND PM ARDERN ANNOUNCES FREE COVID-19 VACCINES FOR ALL CITIZENS

Thu 17 December 2020:

New Zealand will offer free Covid-19 vaccines to its entire population from the middle of 2021.

The Government said on Thursday it had secured enough vaccines for the whole of New Zealand, and was first planning to vaccinate border workers from the second quarter of 2021, and the rest of the country from mid-year.

The government said it had secured enough vaccines to inoculate all of the country’s 5 million people, with two new agreements signed with pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca and Novavax.

The agreements secure access to 7.6 million doses from AstraZeneca, enough for 3.8 million people, and 10.72 million doses from Novavax, enough for 5.36 million people.

Both vaccines require two doses to be administered.

“This will be New Zealand’s largest immunisation rollout ever,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a statement issued on Thursday morning.

New Zealand is among a handful of countries that managed to contain Covid-19 within its borders. There have been 25 deaths and 1,744 confirmed Covid-19 cases so far.

Ardern said the government will vaccinate border staff and rescue workers from the second quarter of 2021, and the general public in the second half of next year.

“We are moving as fast as we can, but we also want to ensure the vaccine is safe for New Zealanders,” Ardern said.

“Never before has the entire globe sought to vaccinate the entire population at the same time. This will be a sustained rollout over months, not weeks, but our pre-purchase agreements mean New Zealand is well positioned to get on with it as soon as it is proven safe to do so.”

Ardern said vaccination would be voluntary; however, take-up would be strongly encouraged by a public health campaign.

“We want our entire population to be protected from Covid-19,” she said.

Minister for Covid-19 Response Chris Hipkins said nine large freezers that could be set to temperatures of minus 80 degrees Celsius would arrive in New Zealand by the end of the year, to meet the storage requirements of the Pfizer vaccine.

“Workforce planning to ensure we have enough vaccinators is well advanced. There are around 12,000 health professionals already able to administer vaccines and more will be trained.”

The Government has also announced it would spend $75 million supporting Pacific nations to vaccinate for Covid-19.

“We want to make sure Pacific countries can also access suitable options and have the support they need to run successful immunisation campaigns,” Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said.

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent