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Photo: Stock Photos from BALL LUNLA / Shutterstock
The island nation of New Zealand has been widely praised for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Currently, the country reports no known community cases and only 43 isolated individuals kept in quarantine at the country’s border. The nation’s effective quarantine and contact tracing methods will soon be boosted by vaccine distribution. However, New Zealand does not simply care about its own citizens. The country of roughly five million people has purchased doses of vaccines for all of its citizens, but also for the citizens of neighboring Pacific island states in an effort to ensure that everyone can receive vaccine protection.
The purchases were announced by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and the country’s Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta. The country has signed for 7.6 million doses of an AstraZeneca vaccine and for 10.72 million doses of a vaccine from the Novovax company. Altogether, the double-dose system will vaccinate more than 10 million people. All New Zealand citizens will receive the vaccine for free. The excess doses will be distributed in the states of the Kingdom of New Zealand: Tokelau, Niue and Cook Islands. New Zealand will also offer the vaccine to the neighboring states of Tonga, Samoa and Tuvalu. These nations can choose to accept the vaccine. This effort to spread wealth is an encouraging development, as the richest and most populous countries are buying doses of the most promising vaccines.
Minister Mahuta said of the purchase: “Pacific countries have worked hard to keep COVID-19 out, or to eradicate it, and New Zealand is committed to supporting them in this.” This effort is part of a NZ $ 75 million (about $ 53.6 million in US currency) campaign to ensure equitable global access to vaccines. By working with its Pacific neighbors to offer the vaccine, New Zealand can hope to avoid its old mismanagement of the 1918 pandemic. Samoa was at the time a League of Nations-mandated nation, controlled by New Zealand after the Germans lost control of the island in the First World War. In 1918, the remote island was safe from the Spanish flu until the colonial administration allowed a ship from New Zealand. Zealand to dock despite regulations. The disease spread rapidly from the ship and decimated communities. The tragedy and New Zealand’s role in enabling it was not recognized until 2002 by then-Prime Minister Helen Clark. As the world grapples with another pandemic, equitable vaccine sharing and neighborhood partnerships will lead to a fairer and healthier outcome in Polynesia.
New Zealand bought additional doses of the coronavirus vaccine to offer to its Pacific Island neighbors.
Announced this week, the purchase of additional doses is part of an effort to ensure equitable global access to vaccines, as rich countries buy supplies.
The doses will be provided to the nations of the Kingdom of New Zealand and will also be offered to the sovereign states of Tonga, Samoa and Tuvalu.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
h / t: [Stuff NZ]
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