By Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw
Analysis - It will be a good day for New Zealand and for the world when we have left the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic behind us.
File photo.
Photo: AFP
We will be able to see those people we have been long separated from. Our nurses and doctors will turn up to their shifts at the hospital knowing it will be just a normal day. Our older people will be at much less risk. Our businesses will be able to plan again with more certainty. A world with the Covid-19 pandemic behind us will not be perfect but there will be an opportunity to refocus our considerable collective energy on solving the long-term problems we are facing.
Photo: Supplied / Ministry of Health
Meat Industry Association chief executive Sirma Karapeeva said the industry was considered high-risk, due to the large numbers of people working closely together.
Countries such as Australia, the US and the UK have all had Covid-19 outbreaks at meat processing facilities. We saw a significant increase in the spread of Covid in that workforce, which led to the closure of plants, Karapeeva said.
It was unclear who was next in line for the vaccine, once frontline and healthcare workers received it, she said. We have been asking the government, we ve been working with officials, to get a sense of what is the plan, and how do industries rank?
Covid-19 vaccinations have begun in Waikato, starting with the vaccinators themselves.
The region will begin immunising its border workers at managed isolation MIQ facilities from Friday (File image).
Photo: Supplied / Ministry of Health
Aotearoa s vaccine roll-out got officially underway last week in Auckland, with about 100 vaccinators receiving their first Pfizer jab.
This afternoon, 28 people received the first of their two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine at a dedicated centre in Hamilton.
The region will begin immunising its border workers at managed isolation (MIQ) facilities from Friday.
The first stage of the vaccine rollout prioritises border workers and the managed isolation and quarantine workforce, and their household contacts.
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