As we embark on Phase 3 of the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out plan, new data shows New Zealand is ranked as low as 116th in the world in terms of vaccination doses administered, National’s Covid-19 Response spokesperson Chris Bishop says.

“New Zealanders were promised we would be at the front of the queue for a Covid-19 vaccine but months into our vaccine roll-out we are just 116th in the world, having administered just 4.82 doses per 100 people.

“We are being beaten by Equatorial Guinea, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Nauru and Nepal, all of whom have vaccinated more people per capita than we have.

“New Zealand is also still the second slowest in administering vaccines in the OECD.

“The vaccine roll-out is a mess.

“The Government has no proper targets, it has published misleading graphs which claim to show the roll-out plan for the months ahead but which the Government admits are illustrative only, and we are miles behind the Government’s own vaccine plan from January this year.

“Vaccinating our frontline border workers was meant to take just two to three weeks but has seemed to stretch on for two to three months.

“We’ve got vaccines waiting in cold storage to be used and the Government deliberately slowing down the roll-out in case we run out. At the same time our IT systems which are critical to getting the roll-out right still aren’t up and running.

“Arguing that because we are free of Covid and other countries aren’t is a poor excuse and a sign of complacency.

“The UK and the US are steaming ahead and while the rest of the world begins to open up to trade, investment and tourism opportunities, New Zealand will be left behind.

“New Zealand is at risk of squandering the hard-won gains of 2020 because the Government dropped the ball in 2021.”

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