AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
IND
Summary
- New Zealand needs to increase its momentum of the vaccine roll-out, says Auditor General.
- The Government must thoroughly work on contingencies in case of any delay in the arrival of vaccines, community outbreaks, etc.
- Majority of the Group 1, 2 and 3 population to be vaccinated by June 2021, with Group 4 inoculations starting from July.
New Zealand is one of the few countries across the globe that has successfully contained the spread of coronavirus. Also, it has secured sufficient vaccines for its entire population. However, it has a long way to go and needs to accelerate its vaccination programme.
John Ryan, New Zealand’s Auditor General, in his report, mentioned that the country had met with initial success by administering a total of 3,88,877 doses of coronavirus vaccines as on 11 May 2021.
However, since a greater number of people need to be vaccinated in the second half of the year, Ryan has advised the Government to ramp up its vaccination programme.
Source: Copyright © 2021 Kalkine Media
Measures To Be Taken To Boost NZ’s Inoculation Scheme
The Labour Government may have chalked out a systemic inoculation programme and is constantly working towards it. However, some of the areas, which need to be worked upon are logistics, info systems, timely arrival of the vaccines, and appropriate distribution system to confirm vaccine shots to be distributed at the right place and at the right time, etc.
Also, foresightedness must be taken into consideration in case of any community outbreak, obstruction in vaccine supply, and shortage of vaccinators, etc.
Do Read; First Shot of COVID 19 Vaccine Begins in New Zealand
Plan B In Place In Case Of Popping Up Of Any Unforeseen Event
Chris Hipkins, NZ’s COVID-19 Response Minister, stated that the Government would be increasing its efforts and would leave no stone unturned to make sure that its entire population was vaccinated towards the year-end. The government’s emphasis is on to vaccinate its Maori, Pasifika, and other native communities of Aotearoa.
Moreover, the NZ Government has already set up a Plan B in case of any contingency and delay in the arrival of Pfizer vaccine supplies in July.
Purchase agreements with 3 other vaccine suppliers are in place, which are still to be approved by Medsafe.
Moreover, 5K vaccinators have finished their training schedule and the Government expects a steady rise in their numbers from here onwards.
Did You Miss Reading; COVID-19: WHO warns against ‘pandemic is over’ mindset, flags vaccine shortage
Recommendations By Auditor-General Already In Consideration
NZ's Director-General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, opined that the recommendations laid out by the Auditor-General were already in progress.
The Health Ministry is convinced that a large part of the population from Group 1 and 2 and nearly 1.7 million from Group 3 would be vaccinated by June 2021.
Did You Read; A look at the latest updates on COVID-19 vaccines across the globe
The remaining population aged 16 years and above, plus Group 4, will be vaccinated from July 2021.
