PM Jacinda Ardern to be vaccinated by end of the month
New Zealand has once again gone 100 days without a case of COVID-19. As a nation, NZ was praised for its collective response to the global pandemic – being quick to impose strict lockdowns and trave bans. Now, the country has not recorded a single case of the virus since February 8 – meaning we’re on track to beat our last record of 102 days COVID-free.
With that in mind, PM Jacinda Arden has announced her intention of being vaccinated by the end of the month. The government has confirmed that one million doses of Pfizer is making its way to our shores, in a bid to vaccinate the whole population.
Arden has supposedly postponed receiving her jab until the majority of people have had theirs – claiming she wanted to “prioritise those who are most vulnerable”.
Arden’s stance on vaccinations has always been very forthright. Earlier in the year, she instructed border employees to be vaccinated or face being deployed.
“From Monday through until the end of April, that becomes the final window where if people are not vaccinated in that period of time then they are redeployed, they are moved on,” she told TVNZ. “And that was always the point we had to get to. We believe we have a health and safety obligation to people who are at the frontline in managed isolation. It's a big call, but we'd always had the view that people would have to be moved on at that stage."
