Analysis: The burning Covid vaccine rollout questions the Ministry of Health isn't answering

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern arriving for the post-Cabinet press conference with Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor and Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins. Photo / Mark Mitchell

ANALYSIS:

There are fundamental questions about the rapidly approaching Covid-19 vaccine rollout to the wider New Zealand population which remain unanswered just six weeks before it's due to begin.

And the Ministry of Health appears indifferent to requests for information and in a number of instances does not provide clear answers to the questions the media is asking on behalf of Kiwis.

At the moment, we know about two million Kiwis above 16 years old can get vaccinated from the end of July - a necessity if our borders are to continue opening.

However, we know little more. Any rollout dates are estimates, how we book appointments is a mystery and there are thousands in priority groups who are yet to get the jab.

On Friday, the New Zealand Herald sent a list of 10 questions to the Ministry of Health's media team and gave officials three working days to answer them.

The majority of these questions focused on the ins and outs of how the general public rollout will work:

• When will the general rollout actually start?

• How will bookings work?

• What facilities will be used as mass vaccination centres and have they been booked?

• What is the projected end date of the rollout?

Questions also concerned how many vaccines would be delivered in the next two weeks, if we have a sufficient spread of vaccinators across the country, and how we will know when the rollout is completed given there is no accurate data on how many people are in groups 1-4.

That same day, the ministry essentially responded with "you'll have to wait and see", saying these questions should be answered this week.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is expected to release some information about the national vaccination booking system this week. Photo / NZME

In a media briefing last week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern did forecast a rollout tell-all after Cabinet made decisions on Monday, and would share details about the national vaccination booking system to replace DHB versions which have had varied success.

Other questions not specific to the rollout had supposedly been "largely covered" in the public domain, according to the ministry.

In a sense, I can understand the response - there is little point in double-handling work. Time and resource-poor journalists know this as well as most.

However, it is simply not good enough to deny answering critical vaccine rollout questions because Ardern or health officials want to ensure they are delivered the way they prefer.

Following nearly every story we write about the vaccine rollout, we are peppered with messages from people desperate for information - or accusations from those who think we aren't asking the right questions.

Journalists have been asking the right questions for months. Time and time again, stories are trademarked with a lack of detail or clarity from the Government.

Case in point - the ministry baulked at stories revealing how many members of group 1 and 2 were not vaccinated, saying estimates of these groups' sizes were not accurate.

Instead, the Government will rely on encouraging everyone to get vaccinated, seemingly without the ability to tell when the populations most at risk of dying from the virus are as protected as possible.

There are still many things we don't know about the rollout and some are for good reason. Others, it seems, are for good public relations purposes.

For every time the rollout is referred to as "the largest logistical campaign in healthcare history", it must be remembered this campaign is for Kiwis' safety and they deserve better than to be told to wait and see.

In the meantime, we will try to assure those wracked with anxiety over these unknowns that we are doing our best to answer their questions.