Barry Soper: Why Kiwi taxpayers are paying Covid wage subsidy in Cook Islands
27 Jan, 2021 04:00 PM
3 minutes to read
OPINION:
What s so special about businesses in the Cook Islands?
Well, they must have something worth preserving that our businesses here don t have. Their Prime Minister, Mark Brown, told Heather du Plessis-Allan on Newstalk ZB Drive last night that kind donors from this country are paying the Covid wage subsidy through until the end of March with support packages being planned by the Government there to go through until the end of June.
The kind donors are of course New Zealand taxpayers.
After buying enough COVID vaccines, New Zealand now offers it to neighbouring nations for free
By Bhavya Singh| Published: 22nd December 2020 2:11 pm IST
New Zealand’s handling of the pandemic has been commendable. At present, the Island nation reports no known community cases. Now, the country has also secured enough vaccine of all its citizens as well as for citizens of neighbouring Pacific island states.
The purchase was announced by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta. The initiative comes at a time when rich nations are hoarding up vaccines while the poor countries are left to suffer.
By Madeleine Muzdakis on December 18, 2020
Photo: Stock Photos from BALL LUNLA/Shutterstock
The island nation of New Zealand has been widely lauded for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. At present, the country reports no known community cases and only 43 isolated individuals held in quarantine at the country s border. The nation s effective contact tracing and quarantine methods will soon be buoyed by vaccine distribution. However, New Zealand is not merely concerned for its own citizens. The country of about five million people has purchased vaccine doses for all its citizens, but also for the citizens of neighboring Pacific island states in an effort to ensure everyone can receive the vaccines protection.
“Pacific countries have worked hard to keep Covid-19 out, or to stamp it out, and New Zealand has been committed to supporting them in this,” Mahuta said in a statement. “But their success has been hard-won. A safe and effective vaccine will be key to the region’s economic and social recovery.” Some $10m of the $75m assistance funding will go to the global COVAX facility, which works to provide equal access vaccines to countries across the world. Covid-stricken countries across the world are urgently vaccinating their populations, as the virus spreads and deaths mount. Covid-19 deaths in the United States have eclipsed 300,000 this week, as the first health workers received the Pfizer vaccine after it was urgently given the green light by the Food and Drug Administration.