All DHBs must stick to national COVID-19 vaccination plan - Chris Hipkins newshub.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newshub.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Bernard Walker,
A crucial delivery of 150,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine has arrived in New Zealand this week, ahead of schedule.
But at the same time, the vaccination of most people living in the Canterbury region has been moved back by at least two months.
For the rest of the country, people in group 4 of the vaccination programme will become eligible by the end of July. But those living in Christchurch – New Zealand’s second-largest city – and the Canterbury region will only get their first vaccine dose from mid-September, at the earliest. The region’s COVID-19 response officer Ralph La Salle encouraged everyone “to be patient”.
Such regional disparities in the vaccine programme are unacceptable as borders reopen and quarantine-free travel with three Australian states resumes this week. Being “patient” is the polar opposite of what we need for an effective Covid-19 response. We are still in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, and our nearest neighbour Australia has millions of people enduring lockdowns resulting from border failures.
Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
Canterbury is facing vaccination delays. New Zealand was lucky to avoid the same scenario following a weekend visit by an Australian traveller who subsequently tested positive for the Delta variant. Further border failures are highly probable. Compared to Australia’s border control, New Zealand’s system has been estimated to be up to three times more likely to be breached.
Christchurch faces weeks of delay in Covid-19 vaccine rollout rnz.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from rnz.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Date Time
New Zealand’s second-largest city faces weeks of delays in COVID-19 vaccine rollout
A crucial delivery of 150,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine has arrived in New Zealand this week, ahead of schedule.
Author Associate Professor in Organisations and Leadership, University of Canterbury
But at the same time, the vaccination of most people living in the Canterbury region has been moved back by at least two months.
For the rest of the country, people in group 4 of the vaccination programme will become eligible by the end of July. But those living in Christchurch – New Zealand’s second-largest city – and the Canterbury region will only get their first vaccine dose from mid-September, at the earliest. The region’s COVID-19 response officer Ralph La Salle encouraged everyone “to be patient“.