An essential part of how we protect New Zealanders and our Pacific neighbours from COVID-19 is having a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine and a robust vaccine rollout.
New Zealand’s first batch of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine recently arrived on our shores. As the rollout begins, both employers and employees will have questions about the vaccination.
Recently we had a chat with the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce about how employers can talk to their teams about the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and limit the spread of misinformation. You can read it here.
Vaccine progress
Border workers and managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) workers are the Governments priority and these vaccines have now started.
This includes cleaners, nurses who do health checks at MIQ, security staff, border officials, and airline staff. Household contacts will follow after this. Healthcare, essential workers and those most at risk from COVID-19 will follow in the second quarter. The wider population will be vaccinated in the second half of the year.
The COVID-19 vaccine is free and voluntary for the general public but some sectors may mandate that their employees are vaccinated. For example, if you’re employed as a cleaner working at a MIQ facility.