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New Zealand has ordered 15 million Covid-19 vaccine courses from four providers as the country approaches the end of 2020 on a promising note, with a recovering economy and plans to open numerous travel corridors in the new year.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed that the treatment would be free for all, prioritizing health workers and border officials. The vaccine will be available in the second trimester of next year.
Ardern said preparation for New Zealand’s “largest immunization program in history” was progressing well, and the country had now pre-ordered vaccines from four suppliers: 750,000 courses from Pfizer, 5m from Janssen, 3.8 m from Oxford / AstraZeneca and 5.36 m from Novavax. . A course refers to all the doses necessary for a person.
Some of the vaccines will be shipped to Pacific countries. As part of its 2021 vaccination plan, the government announced NZ $ 75 million in funding to help Pacific countries vaccinate their populations.
“Never before has the whole world tried to vaccinate the entire population at the same time,” Ardern said. “This will be a sustained deployment for months, not weeks, but our pre-purchase agreements mean that New Zealand is well positioned to move forward as soon as it is proven safe to do so.”
The news came as the New Zealand economy rebounded in the September quarter, growing 14%. Stats NZ said on Thursday that growth was the strongest quarter in modern New Zealand history, as a result of an 11% drop in the June quarter.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the increase was in line with the recovery in Australia and beyond those in the UK and Japan. “The economic rebound is the result of our decision to act tough and early during the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
The economic reversal was widely predicted given the timing of New Zealand’s tough 51-day lockdown from March to May.
Robertson also said unemployment was expected to peak at 6.9% by the end of 2021, instead of the 7.8% forecast in September.
“The government’s decision to act quickly in response to the global Covid-19 pandemic has contributed to a better-than-expected economic recovery,” Robertson said. “While New Zealand’s economy contracted in 2020, it is forecast to rebound strongly in 2021, outpacing regions we are comparing ourselves to such as the euro zone, the UK and Japan.”
Meanwhile, the government announced that talks with Niue were moving forward to establish a travel bubble in the new year, following news last week that the Cook Islands and Australia would soon become part of safe travel corridors with New Zealand. .
New Zealanders have been able to enter several Australian states for some time without having to self-quarantine, but have faced two weeks in quarantine upon their return home, at their own expense. The Australian travel bubble is expected to start in the first quarter of 2021, probably in late March.
The prime minister said it was government policy to purchase various types of vaccines as they progressed through the final stages of the trial, to ensure the options were successful.
“This will be the largest immunization rollout ever in New Zealand. Most countries are considering implementation to complete 2021 and part of 2022 due to its scale and complexity, also due to production and delivery times, ”said Ardern.
“Our first priority will be to vaccinate border workers and essential personnel who are most at risk of contracting Covid-19. We expect the vaccines to be delivered to our front-line workers in the second quarter of 2021 ”.
“Our goal is then to begin vaccinating the general public in the second half of the year. All vaccine deployment will depend on Medsafe approval, which we are optimizing, and speed of manufacture. We are moving as fast as we can, but we also want to make sure the vaccine is safe for New Zealanders. “
