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The government is calculating how many people should be vaccinated against Covid-19 before the borders can be opened, says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
She was speaking to the media on Tuesday morning after news broke of a third major vaccine effective against Covid-19.
But Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said it could still be a year to 18 months before borders are opened and life returns to normal.
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins.
“Vaccination will take some time to affect the way we operate our borders and the resumption of normal life,” Ardern said.
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“The vaccines that we are looking at, some of the early ones, are not being delivered on a scale that will have a significant impact right away.
“Ultimately, 2021 will be the year of the vaccine.”
Hipkins said the country wouldn’t need to see “100 percent” vaccination rates to have enough herd immunity to open borders.
“One of the things we are working on right now is what percentage of the population will need to be vaccinated before we remove all travel restrictions. It does not necessarily have to be 100 percent. We may never get to 100 percent, ”Hipkins said.
“At this point, there is still some uncertainty about when the vaccines will actually arrive.”
He said the government was assuming that some levels of restrictions would remain for the next “year to 18 months.”
Darrian Traynor / Getty Images
CSL’s Dr. Andrew Nash, who has started manufacturing the AstraZeneca-Oxford University Covid-19 vaccine in Melbourne, Australia.
“But the sooner we can remove the restrictions, the better.”
Hipkins said governments around the world will work on “vaccine certification” so other governments can trust that people have been vaccinated.
“I imagine that all countries will be considering some type of vaccination certification process. I guess that’s something [the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade] we are exploring with other countries, ”said Hipkins.
“We need to know if someone has been vaccinated or not. Once we get to the point where vaccination is more available worldwide, we would like to know as part of our overall protection. “
New Zealand had a purchasing agreement with Pfizer, which has developed a vaccine that must be kept extremely cold and requires two doses.
Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods said 1.5 million doses of the vaccine should be ready by early 2021, with priority given to those most at risk of spreading, contracting or dying from the vaccine. Covid-19.
Medsafe will still have to approve any vaccines.
