Auckland, Oct 12 (BNA): New Zealand expects to administer 100,000 standard doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in a single day during a mass immunization campaign on Oct 16, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, as it seeks to speed up vaccinations before the easing. Barriers in Auckland.
On Tuesday, Ardern urged the country’s population over the age of 12 to “roll up our sleeves for New Zealand and help make us (one of) the most vaccinated and therefore protected countries in the world.” According to Reuters, about 2.44 million, or 58% of the population over 12 years old, have so far been fully vaccinated.
“There’s nothing stopping us but (not) people coming,” Ardern said during a media conference in Wellington.
New Zealand, which had remained largely virus-free for most of the pandemic until the outbreak in the Delta in mid-August, had 4,345 confirmed cases overall and 28 deaths.
It reported 43 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, most of them in its largest city, Auckland, up from 35 the day before.
Auckland’s 1.7 million residents went into lockdown in mid-August in an effort to stem the outbreak in the Delta region. Some restrictions were eased last week including leaving homes to socialize with loved ones outdoors, a maximum of 10 people, as well as going to beaches and parks.
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