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New Zealand started its Covid-19 vaccination program about three weeks ago. The government has purchased four different types of vaccines, but at this stage it is only using one type: the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
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Chief Health Officer Dr. Ashley Bloomfield reveals how many people need to get vaccinated to protect our community. Source: Sunday
All people over the age of 16 in the country are eligible to get vaccinated, but priority is given to certain groups.
The first group in line are Border and Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) workers and the people they live with. There are approximately 50,000 people in this group and just over half of them (27,000) have received the vaccine so far.
The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine requires two injections. After the first injection, it is 52% effective in protecting people against serious virus infection. After the second injection is given three weeks later, its effectiveness increases to 95 percent.
Is it necessary for everyone in New Zealand to get vaccinated before returning to normal life?
Not quite, it’s about herd immunity. This is the idea that if a sufficient number of us in the country are vaccinated, then the virus will be deprived of people to whom it can be infected and then even those who are not vaccinated will be protected from the disease because they will not come into contact. with that.
So what is the magic number for herd immunity?
This is the big question. It was previously thought that a country needs to have around 70-75 percent of its population immunized against Covid-19 to achieve herd immunity. But more recently (and problematic) health experts, including Ashley Bloomfield, believe we should be aiming for 90 percent.
There are two main problems. First of all, the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine is only approved for people 16 years of age and older. In New Zealand, approximately one million kiwis are 15 years old or younger. So that’s the 20 percent of our population that is currently ineligible to get vaccinated.
Second, a recent Ministry of Health survey showed that 24 percent of kiwis are “unlikely” to get vaccinated and 16 percent say they will “not” get vaccinated.
If New Zealand is ever to achieve 90% immunity of the population, these figures must be changed.
Are there solutions to these problems?
Trials are currently underway to approve the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 12-15. The CEO of the drug company has said he expects younger teens to be eligible for the vaccine in the spring and elementary school kids by the end of the year.
As for the cynics, the Health Ministry is launching a huge public relations campaign to try to convince them that the vaccine is worth getting.
