David Seymour
ACT Leader
It’s time for the Government to start treating New Zealanders like adults and let us in on what’s really happening with the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
Yesterday Jacinda Ardern admitted we’re getting the schedule for delivery of vaccines four weeks in advance. She should publish them, so we know how much vaccine is coming and when.
New Zealanders have a right to know.
The only silver lining is that having no vaccination solves the problem of the chaotic and delayed appointment, booking and delivery system.
The truth is her response to COVID-19 has become so bad, she’s comparing our rollout with Africa to her make herself look good.
We were once front of the queue and now we’re bottom of the OECD.
As we’ve slipped further and further behind the Prime Minister has continued to make excuses including our rates of infection and the supply from the pharmaceutical companies.
The Government has dropped the ball and hasn’t negotiated well enough on our behalf.
We won’t be safe from the virus until we’re vaccinated.
The Government should be aiming for us to be the best in the world.
ACT has developed a plan for the immediate next steps of New Zealand’s response to COVID-19 and a longer-term strategy for living in a progressively vaccinated world.
It is underpinned by five principles: government transparency; faster tech uptake; risk-proportionate responses; a culture of inviting criticism; and and maximising human wellbeing.
It also makes 15 policy recommendations, including:
- Compulsory COVID-app use including Bluetooth functionality to improve contact tracing
- Introduce daily PCR saliva testing and the use of Datamine’s ëlarm technology to the border and MIQ workforce to alert them to early signs of infection
- An Epidemic Response Unit modelled off Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Centre to replace COVID-19 response leadership by the Ministry of Health
- Reactivate Parliament’s Epidemic Response Committee
Investigating and doing these things requires the Government being prepared to put the effort and resources into them.
Whatever that resource may be, ACT’s view is the cost will be considerably less than further lockdowns caused by inadequate measures at the border, patchy contact tracing, and a slow vaccination roll-out.
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