Covid Comments Updated

I fail to see what value there is in New Zealand retaining regional lockdowns once a high number of people have been fully vaccinated. The experts tell us there is a risk of the fully vaccinated, after vaccination, unknowingly becoming infected with the virus and then transmitting it. High risk or minimal risk – we don’t seem to know. A natural question is, how many proven cases of this type of infection transmission have been found?

The reason for this question is that the USA, Canada and Mexico are next month opening borders for all travel for those who have been fully vaccinated (See CNN and New York Times reports). In other words, no full vaccination equals no travel. If it is good enough for North America then why not New Zealand? We could have our borders reopened fully much sooner and do away with managed isolation systems. The USA will require those entering via air travel to have a Covid test in addition to full vaccination.  

If a sufficiently high number of fully vaccinated has been achieved then surely a point resembling herd immunity must have been reached.

There are other questions. What is New Zealand’s vaccine supply today? Is there a plan for booster shots? The vaccine effectiveness is said to diminish over time. Some forecasts are that full effectiveness may be lost after six months. This sort of timeline suggests that to prevent another outbreak New Zealanders will be needing booster shots from March and April of next year. Question again, will New Zealand’s vaccine supply chain meet the likely demand? A booster shots programme next year would certainly benefit from the experiences of 2021. 

14th Oct 2021

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