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Speaking at a press conference this morning, Ardern said vaccination of border workers, which included managed isolation and quarantine hotel workers, would start on February 20. A national rollout to the general public would take the entire year to complete.

Next week’s arrival of the vaccine was “well within our scheduled timeframe, and ahead of previous expectations”, Ardern said.

Jacinda Ardern

“That means we should be in a position, all things going to plan, to start vaccinating our border workers from next Saturday the 20th of February.”

The first priority would be the country’s 12,000 border workers, who could be vaccinated within a two- to three-week timeframe.

Ardern added that New Zealand had pre-purchased enough of the vaccine for everyone in New Zealand as well as the Pacific to be vaccinated for free.

Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins said New Zealand would receive just under a quarter-of-a-million courses of the vaccine in the first quarter of 2021. It would come in waves, likely weekly, with the first shipment expected to be in the low tens of thousands.

Hipkins expected 225,000 courses to arrive by the end of March, split over several deliveries.

The first roll out of the vaccine would be administered to border workers in their workplace. Next in line would be their family members, who would be asked to come to a particular location to be vaccinated. This may or may not be the workplace of the border worker.

Ardern said she did not expect any issues from border workers receiving the vaccine.

“We get a strong sense from border workers they want to protect themselves and their family members. We are expecting good uptake from them,” she said.

She said border workers would not lose their jobs if they did not take the vaccine, but they may not remain in a frontline role.

“We’re not expecting this to be an issue.”

Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield said additional logistics would be needed to get the doses ready upon arrival.

Vaccinators would need to do a specific training module for this vaccine, which was a two hour online course that was already underway.

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The bank’s Watch list for 2021 noted the Covid-19 pandemic would continue to have “a major bearing on the outlook for 2021” and would dominate politics and the economy.

“New Zealand can rightly feel proud for how we have pulled together and demonstrated flexibility and resilience,” ASB said.

“However, the border restrictions remain a headwind and will be felt more acutely over the peak summer months for inbound tourism.”

The rollout of the vaccine this year would take time and there there were “still pockets of pain out there and the jobless queue has grown”.

However, ASB said the country’s successful efforts in tackling the spread of Covid-19 had “increased New Zealand’s allure as a safe-haven destination and good place to live and work”.

“This should leave New Zealand in an enviable position of being able to pick and choose who settles here.

“It remains to be seen if policymakers revert to pump-priming the economy via encouraging mass immigration and tourism.”

Much hinged on what happened at the country’s border.

“The New Zealand border restrictions have reduced immigration inflows from a flood to a trickle,” ASB said.

“They have also dramatically shrunk our $17.5bn market for inbound tourism and the $4.2bn of annual international student expenditures.

“When the borders do open is still unknown, although signs are hopeful there will be a staged reopening of the border sometime this year.”

ASB said it was hopeful that the worst of the pandemic had now passed and 2021 “would provide the chance to recharge and set the scene for an upswing over 2022”.

“Let’s hope so,” the bank said.

“But, going by what has happened over the last 12 months, there is no guarantee there will be smooth sailing ahead.”

Download ASB’s Watch list for 2021 here.

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It follows criticism of the Government’s border controls after two recent arrivals returned positive results for Covid-19 and news broke that not all arrivals were being tested before they left managed isolated facilities.

Under the new regime, there would be regular health checks and asymptomatic testing of all border-facing workers, and regular testing of quarantine-exempt people such as air crew.

Testing would be available for anyone presenting to primary or secondary care with any type of Covid-19 symptom.

District Health Boards would be required to regularly review and take actions to increase testing in population groups if there was significant variation to the national average in their region.

David Clark

“With more than 340,000 tests done to date, we have the highest rate of tests per confirmed Covid-19 cases in the world,” health minister David Clark said.

“The greatest risk for us now is the thousands of New Zealanders coming back from global hotspots so our testing strategy will focus on our border.”

The Ministry of Health was already testing people in managed isolation and quarantine facilities at days 3 and 12, and a negative result was required for the later test before people were allowed to leave their quarantine facility.

Priority for testing would be given to people most likely to have been exposed, which were border and airline staff and those arriving back in New Zealand.

Border workers included staff in customs, biosecurity, immigration and aviation security at airports, and cleaners at international airports or maritime ports in areas visited by international arrivals.

It also included staff who worked in managed isolation and quarantine facilities, including those who drove people entering the country from the airport to the facilities.

“Across the wider community, we will continue to test all close contacts of confirmed or probable cases,” Clark said.

“Anyone presenting to primary or secondary care with symptoms consistent with Covid-19 will be offered testing even if they have no history of international travel or contact with travellers.

“The Ministry will also make clear to DHBs the Government’s expectation that there will continue to be a low bar to meet to obtain a Covid-19 test.”

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