Covid 19 coronavirus: Two million Kiwis to be vaccinated in four months - rollout plan unveiled

The vaccine rollout is aiming to reach 2 million Kiwis within four months with people at higher risk if they catch Covid-19 being the next in line behind border and healthcare workers.

The vaccine rollout is aiming to reach two million Kiwis within four months, with people at higher risk if they catch Covid-19 being the next in line behind border and healthcare workers.

Older people with relevant health conditions living in South Auckland, those in aged residential care homes or living in a whanau care setting will be offered the vaccine next.

Then from May Kiwis aged over 70, then those aged over 65 years old before the vaccine is offered to the remaining population in July.

The relevant health conditions to get early access to the vaccine include coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease/chronic respiratory conditions, kidney disease, cancer and pregnant women.

The concrete rollout plan comes after the Government announced on Monday it had secured enough Pfizer vaccine for every New Zealander.

So far about 18,000 frontline border workers and their families have received their first of two jabs and the first Kiwis will become fully inoculated with two doses next week.

About 57,00 frontline healthcare workers who could be exposed to the virus while providing care are next in line.

By the end of May the Government is hoping 183,000 health workers who could expose vulnerable people and about 234,000 older people living in South Auckland, in aged care facilities which have particular vulnerabilities or living in a whanau care setting will be offered the vaccine.

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Māori and Pacific health providers will be allocated 40,000 courses to distribute.

The campaign will then focus on older New Zealanders and those with health conditions before it reaches the remaining two million Kiwis in the general population in July.

Covid-19 Health Minister Chris Hipkins said the target of the rollout was to next vaccinate those most at risk of getting and spreading Covid-19 and those most at risk of getting seriously sick if they become infected.

Decisions have not yet been made about when those needing to head overseas would be offered access to the vaccine, with Hipkins anticipating it being brought to Cabinet in the next few weeks.

He would not say whether the Olympians would be offered vaccinations before they leave for Tokyo or whether businesspeople would be included in the priority group but said there would be "a high bar".

But he did say the lines between the groupings were flexible so there could be some overlap.

There also has not yet been a decision about how to roll out the vaccination programme en masse.

Hipkins said there would be a booking system, walk-in clinics and guaranteed it wouldn't be organised alphabetically by surnames.

"I can assure you the Youngs won't be disadvantaged by the alphabet."

An online look-up tool is also set to be launched so Kiwis can work out when they'll be offered jabs.

Otago University epidemiologist Professor Nick Wilson said the selected groupings made sense but wanted to see the entire adult population of Counties-Manukau district health board prioritised.

"That's because this population is particularly exposed to border failures by its proximity to Auckland Airport, and also all the MIQ facilities in South Auckland.

"And we've seen this risk with some of the recent border failures. The border is going to get safer as we vaccinate border workers - but we're going to continue to have failures."

Act leader David Seymour said the framework had a "shocking lack of detail front and centre" and didn't give New Zealanders much more information than what they'd already been told.

The priority groups

Group 1

The 50,000 border and MIQ workers, their household contacts and the people they live with. This started last month and the vast bulk will be completed this month, with at least one dose administered.

Group 2

Approximately 480,000 frontline workers and people living in high-risk settings. Starting with the 57,000 healthcare workers on community frontlines, and then moving through to healthcare workers protecting our most vulnerable and some priority populations.

And anyone who lives in the Counties Manukau DHB area who is 65 and older or who has an underlying health condition is also in Group 2.

This started in February and will continue through to May.

Group 3

Priority populations. Approximately 1.7 million people who are at higher risk if they catch Covid-19. This is planned to start in May.

Group 4

The remainder of the general population – approximately two million people. Starting from July.

Covid case update

All contacts of the air crew member have returned negative results so far, with the remaining due tomorrow. There are no other locations of interest.

The outstanding gymgoer from the Valentine's Day outbreak who contact tracers weren't able to contact has now been tracked down and has tested negative.

There are again no new cases of Covid-19 in the community and one new case in managed isolation.

Hipkins said he was "optimistic" about Auckland moving to level 1 before the weekend "but there are still some things to do".

The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 80. Our total number of confirmed cases is 2,054.

There are seven community testing locations available in Auckland today. These are in Wiri, Otara, Pakuranga Heights, Balmoral, New Lynn, Henderson and Northcote.

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