The critical issue for Nelson and New Zealand this year is the successful rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine.
It is urgently needed to protect New Zealand from the disease and to enable our communities and economy to recover.
Covid-19 infected 100 million people in 2020 and two million have died.
New Zealand’s isolation, small population, early lockdown and national teamwork has enabled us to limit our infections to 2300 and deaths to 25.
The threat in 2021 has become more serious.
The new more infectious and deadly variants of the disease spreading out of the UK, South Africa are already here.
Our border management needs to be tightened.
It is a miracle of modern science that several vaccines have been developed so quickly.
The task now is to successfully deploy them.
We must learn from implementation problems that occurred with the measles and flu vaccination programmes in 2018 and 2020.
Minister Hipkins told New Zealand last November on vaccines “we will be at the front of the queue.”
The reality is that we are already months behind.
Millions of people have been vaccinated already in the UK, US, Europe, Israel and in Asia and not just in countries where Covid is rife.
Singapore has been equally successful in minimising the toll from Covid, but has already vaccinated its front line staff.
Australia is on schedule for doing border staff in February.
Our border staff are not scheduled for vaccination until April.
Health professionals and seniors will have to wait until July with the general public planned for September.
Auckland Universities Professor Des Gormon is right to say that the Government's vaccine strategy is too slow and flawed.
I strongly support the science of vaccination.
It is our best hope of beating Covid-19.
It needs to be delivered with urgency, precision, openness and professionalism.
