Vaccine Roll Out

I’ve found myself in a strange mental state surrounding the vaccine rollout in New Zealand, and since I joke that this is my therapy blog, you get a front row seat to how I’m processing the covid vaccine rollout and its implications here in New Zealand.

First, I have to acknowledge that New Zealand is, numbers-wise, very much behind the US when it comes to vaccine distribution. (For all of the official info on the Kiwi plan, visit here.) At the time I’m writing this, there have been 268,787 first doses and 120,090 second doses administered. In a population of about 5 million, that means a mere 2.4% of the population is fully vaccinated. There’s no denying that this number is far below the 35% of Americans that are fully vaccinated. However, that number includes EVERYONE who might come into direct contact with covid. As of May 1, if you’re a border worker and you chose not to get the vaccine, you were redeployed or let go from your high risk job. The 4-tiered structure of our rollout prioritizes people who work in border jobs and their household members because those are the weakest links in New Zealand’s barrier up against covid.

For the most part, this has worked as evidenced by our current state of 18 active cases all caught in MIQ, but it hasn’t stopped all cases of covid slipping through the border. There was one case of a fully vaccinated airplane cleaner picking up covid despite never coming into direct contact with the person who spread covid to them. It was a somber reminder that the vaccine isn’t a guarantee against covid and a reminder as to why our borders are still closed. (Also, flying in planes isn’t 100% safe, folks, despite what the recycled air studies want you to think.) This was also the case that made me realize how differently I think about the vaccine rollout as opposed to my American friends. To them, getting the vaccine is a ticket to a return to normal life. No mask wearing necessary according to the CDC - though many people in the US and everyone I’ve talked to in New Zealand was baffled by this announcement. Minimal risk of getting covid, or at least not a serious case of it. The risk is still there, but it feels so much less than the past year that it is a relief. To me - and apparently to the Director of the Immunisation Advisory Centre who said “You will still have community transmission with vaccinated people, so going forward we will need to consider going a bit harder with our public health measures.” - even that small risk would be too much because I haven’t spent the past year in that hyper-sensitive state where covid is all around me. I also see this disparity with the Americans on social media who keep asking if they have to go through MIQ even though they’ve had the vaccine. Some of them get downright belligerent when people point out that there is no workaround the two weeks in a hotel despite getting vaccinated. To them, they’re safe and in the clear; to us, they’re still a risk.

Secondly, it feels like the vaccine rollout in New Zealand is moving at a glacial pace. The plan is to have everyone in the country vaccinated by the end of the year, but there is a general vagueness about how this is going to happen. We’ve got the big picture - Group 1 (Border and MIQ workers) started in February, Group 2 (High risk frontline workers and people living in high-risk places) started in March, Group 3 (high risk individuals) is supposed to start in May, but now it is “late May” and who knows when you’ll actually get your invitation to get an appointment. Group 4 (everyone else) is lobbed into July onward, again with very little information about when and how that will happen. It’s frustrating to know that I’m somewhere in the back of a long line with so many variables affecting it.

There are a few bright spots, however. According to the government’s fancy graphs and charts, we’re actually slightly ahead of schedule with vaccine distribution. Not by a whole lot, but enough to make me feel halfway secure in the Ministry of Health’s plan. Plus I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt because my day-to-day life isn’t ruled by fear of coronavirus because their last plan worked really well. Secondly, I have to give the government some credit for using this time to ramp up a huge public relations campaign to get more people on board with getting the vaccine. Since covid is more abstract than in your face here, there are a lot of people who are on the fence about it. Hopefully all of the outreach and push will mean that enough people get it that we will reach some form of herd immunity and not plateau like in the US.

Finally, I’m not convinced that the vaccine roll out in New Zealand is going to change anything in the near future. The only talk of opening the borders prior to a fully vaccinated population is very hypothetical and come with the suggestion that to do that, we would need to move to Level 2.5 which limits gatherings. I can’t imagine that being a popular decision. I also can’t imagine that there will be much movement on this while kids are still unvaccinated, especially since we’ve had several outbreaks clustered around schools. I think this is one of the most daunting things about this whole process: we could all get vaccinated and it not change a thing. I have to remind myself that’s because here in New Zealand there’s not much that needs changing. We’re lucky enough to have had a normal year and haven’t lived through the stressful mess that the rest of the world has. We’re sacrificing easy international travel and visiting friends and family overseas, but I don’t think the current vaccine plan is going to change that right away.