A dozen vaccinators worked across 240 booths set up at the Manukau Events Centre. Photo / ADHB
A dozen vaccinators worked across 240 booths set up at the Manukau Events Centre. Photo / ADHB
EDITORIAL
The mass vaccination event in South Auckland last weekend has set up an interesting question that won't be answered for a while: how will Kiwis see the rollout once they've been through it themselves?
So far, close to two million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have been administered.
Olderand medically vulnerable people are moving through the process, but booking is also open now for the general public.
Initially, frontline workers were the first to get jabs. Now more people are, if not actually getting shots yet themselves, hearing from people they know who have.
Up until now, opinion on the Covid-19 vaccine rollout has mostly been shaped by wider events and the echo chamber of negative reaction to what's happened, compared to what was expected and promised.
There's been plenty of valid reasons to grind axes. Vaccine supply was a concern until last month and the overall operation has been dragged out into what will be nearly a year-long event for a nation of only five million.
Concern about whether the vaccine would get into us in time before the coronavirus showed up, has been in the background throughout. Developments have stirred the tension - delays, supplies nearly running out, people not being vaccinated in order, travel bubble risk, Delta variant outbreaks in Fiji and Australia.
Those neighbouring concerns are getting worse, not easing. At the weekend, Fiji recorded 1121 new cases and six more deaths. New South Wales had 239 new community cases, and Queensland nine.
People have ammunition to argue the rollout has been badly organised. On the tables for vaccinations, tiny Iceland has 74 per cent of its population fully vaccinated and that rises to 79 per cent with the partially immunised. At the end of last week Denmark had 72 per cent either partially or fully jabbed compared to Australia (32 per cent) and New Zealand (22 per cent).
Perceptions of rollout ineptitude make going through a vaccination centre a slightly surreal experience for some. In contrast, the majority of anecdotes report the process on the ground seems smoothly-run and efficient.
Most people's personal link to the rollout is akin to voting at a polling station, only with more people quickly ushered through. There are staffers checking details of those booked, and individual vaccination booths. Whatever problems are troubling the rollout aren't obvious at the level the public sees.
A new poll suggests some aspects of the Covid-19 response - such as the rollout, migration restrictions and border issues - and other policies have taken a toll on the Government's popularity. That's even though it has been successful at keeping people safe from the virus this year.
A section of former Labour supporters are drifting to other options, at least for now, although it's still Jacinda Ardern first and daylight second as preferred prime minister.
But the Government is starting to address some border issues and the promise of widespread vaccination protection is a potential year-end, feel-good political booster.
Ardern said yesterday that 15,881 people received doses at the mass vaccination in Auckland and more such events will likely follow. Overall, 253,163 people got vaccines last week and 345,734 bookings were made.
As long as New Zealand remains Covid-free while the rollout continues, a more visible, ramped-up vaccination programme could improve confidence among the public that the virus response is still on track.
