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The Covid-19 vaccine continues to be distributed overseas, but it is not yet known whether recipients will be able to avoid isolation administered in New Zealand.
A spokesperson for the Health Ministry said that at this stage, the ministry cannot say what impact the vaccines will have on New Zealand’s borders or on mandatory isolation requirements.
Any changes will be implemented from the middle to the second half of next year, the ministry said.
Frank Augstein / AP
A nurse prepares to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in London. (File image)
Kylie Fisher, a kiwi living in Vancouver, Canada, said she must be vaccinated in April and hopes to avoid mandatory two-week isolation when she visits New Zealand in mid-2021.
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Fisher, a teacher with a family in Pukekohe in rural South Auckland, said she hopes to travel to New Zealand during the school holidays in Canada in July. He hasn’t been home in two years.
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Health Director General Ashley Bloomfield says the government will provide more details on what the launch of the vaccine might look like soon.
“If something [could be done] like being isolated for three days to produce a negative test and then letting it out, rather than staying the full two weeks, that would be great, “he said.
“There is no urgency to get home for us, but many people in our community have situations where they may need to go home.
“It is a waiting game now, to see what happens and what is decided.”
A spokesperson for Managed Isolation and Quarantine said that at this time, staying in Managed Isolation is a legal requirement under the Public Health Response Act of 2020.
In previous statements to Radio New Zealand, the chairman of the government’s vaccine strategy working group, Ian Town, said that the effect of the vaccine has not yet been seen in the medium and long term.
It is also not yet known how long the effects of the vaccine will last.
“Now, the phase three studies that are underway right now are looking at it very carefully, so as we think about border management in the middle and second half of next year, those are things we will have to review.” .
Chief Health Officer Dr Ashley Bloomfield said border controls and the current removal strategy will continue to serve New Zealanders through 2021.
The government is expected to provide more details on what a vaccine launch would look like here soon.
