Editorial: Reasons to feel positive about the Covid 19 coronavirus vaccine rollout

A nurse fills syringes with Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines at a Covid-19 vaccination clinic in Bellingham, Washington, in the United States. Photo / AP

Editorial

EDITORIAL

Fresh details on the country's vaccination programme should ease some of the frustrations around the rollout, particularly for residents in the City of Sails.

People have been wanting more specifics and certainty over Covid-19 vaccines. On Thursday Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern laid out a clearer blueprint for the next few months, with specific dates.

Vaccines will be central to how the country recovers from the pandemic - probably for years. Vaccinations are our insurance policy against the coronavirus and its variants and the basis for further reopening.

Ardern appeared to add another level of insurance to ensure the rollout's success in the form of a new type of vaccine. Rather than rely solely on the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, supplies of the Johnson & Johnson single shot in wide use in the United States are also due to be available from August.

Aside from helping to get the rollout done by year's end, the Janssen vaccine can also be used as future booster shots.

The head of the European Medicines Agency, Emer Cooke, told the Financial Times this week that governments should use a range of vaccines to have the best chance of beating the pandemic. "You might have a production issue, something else might go wrong, the best approach is a portfolio approach."

Quite a lot has been going wrong with New Zealand's rollout to date.

Before this week, Auckland had been running at about 30,000 doses behind targets. There have also been numerous stories of people having bad experiences trying to get vaccinated in the city. Internationally, the Asia-Pacific region is at low vaccination levels.

While being realistic about logistical problems and offshore infection risks, there are reasons for optimism.

With the start of doses for people in Group three, the opening of more vaccination centres in Auckland and more general practice clinics and pharmacies getting involved, there's finally a sense of momentum. And there's also now a rundown of when and how people in the general population should get their call-up by "age bands" from the end of July.

More than 110,000 people aged 65 and over in the Auckland region should have this week received an invitation by text or email for vaccination. Auckland is set to have 12 vaccination centres by the end of the month, including new ones in Albany, Tāmaki, Pukekohe and Takānini..

Other group three invitations, including 164,000 Aucklanders with serious health conditions, are due be sent out in the next four weeks. That would provide more of our most vulnerable residents with reassurance.

The country getting through nearly four months without a Covid community outbreak in Auckland - its biggest urban and economic centre - also inspires some confidence.

The country is also inching closer to a million vaccine jabs in arms - a mark that will feel like we're getting somewhere when it is passed. On Wednesday, the director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said about 17 per cent of the total population has had either one or two doses.

Bloomfield also noted that there had been an increase in the percentages of people wanting to get vaccinated, from 69 per cent in March and 77 per cent in April. "Our latest research report shows 80 per cent of those aged 16 years and over say they are likely to get a vaccine or have already been vaccinated."

It would be a great result for the country if that level of vaccination is actually achieved, giving more collective protection against both the original virus and its variants.

Of the four most serious variants, the delta strain has been found in more than 80 countries. Data from the UK shows that it is very important to have both doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to get the most protection possible against the delta variant.

An English study on serious Covid illnesses said the vaccine is 96 per cent effective at preventing the need for hospital admission from the variant after two doses. Scottish research - which focused on all Covid infections including mild ones - put the vaccine's effectiveness against the delta infection at 79 per cent.

Britain pursued a policy of delaying the second dose to spread out supplies and give more people some protection with one jab. It is using a month-long delay in lifting restrictions to administer more second doses. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said there were nearly six million people over the age of 40 who had yet to get the second jab.

High vaccination levels in New Zealand would give tourists and migrants confidence about coming here, once that is possible, and aid Kiwis' travel plans. Ardern said other countries, especially within the European Union, were only opening up to travellers who had been vaccinated.

Simmering frustrations will be but a memory when the rollout really gets rolling.