Cars queued as people file in to a pop-up Covid-testing station at Narrow Neck Beach in Devonport. Why are we not vaccinating this way also? Photo / Brett Phibbs
Cars queued as people file in to a pop-up Covid-testing station at Narrow Neck Beach in Devonport. Why are we not vaccinating this way also? Photo / Brett Phibbs
EDITORIAL:
Living in New Zealand's mostly Covid-free zone for six months, we have become complacent.
Apart from the Wellington Delta scare, regular cases in MIQ, some nervousness about the transtasman bubble, and bad news overseas in Australia and Fiji, there's been little reason to feel under active threat. We've beensafe in our country-wide bubble.
Until now.
If there is a silver lining in our current predicament, it is that people's complacency should have evaporated.
Delta is the variant of the virus that's been pumping iron and now has a six-pack. It spreads far more easily and New Zealand offers a lot of juicy possibilities.
Like Australia, our vaccine level leaves us particularly vulnerable; only 40 per cent of people are partially or fully vaccinated. We are ripe for a ballooning outbreak if this is not quickly contained.
The vaccines do not provide 100 per cent protection and allow some infection seepage. But they are people's best option, especially when combined with other defensive layers such as good-quality masks.
The rollout has been ramping up and is being pushed to younger age groups. People need to do their bit: Anyone who hasn't booked for a jab should do so. In areas of the country unlikely to be affected by this outbreak they should get it done as soon as they can.
In terms of where the country is placed on vaccinations, now is the worst time for a pause.
It seems unconscionable that vaccinations needed to halt while centres were rearranged for level 4 compliance. Surely this should have been planned for?
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it was important to protect the safety of both those coming in for vaccines and those administering. The pause of up to 48 hours gives officials time to further consider potential changes, she said, including drive-through vaccination.
The Government needs to take its overall "go hard" attitude to coronavirus control to the vaccination problem. Like Delta, the rollout needs to be a faster, fitter version of its former self.
Even once the question of vaccine supplies was dealt with, there has been a "don't spook the horses" aspect to the rollout. It was as though the country had oodles of time to do everything at our own pace - when this nightmare scenario always hovered on the horizon.
There was one mass event in south Auckland. There should have been many around the country by now.
There has been too much focus on doing everything by the book and not enough flexibility.
Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins' push for drive-through jab centres is a major step in the right direction. Yesterday, he also gave his most unequivocal endorsement of mask wearing.
We have drive-through testing centres and we can do the same for vaccines. They have been held overseas for months. People could fill out forms online and use driver's licences or passports as identification.
Pharmacies are open during level 4, surely they could be widely used to deliver shots? Should it be determined that this outbreak is clearly a regional problem, then some non-impacted areas of the country should visibly go into overdrive on delivering doses.
