Source: New Zealand Parliament – Hansard
Question No. 5—COVID-19 Response
5. CHRIS BISHOP (National) to the Minister for COVID-19 Response: Will the Government administer 8,016,768 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by the week of 21 November 2021 as set out in the Ministry of Health’s “Original cumulative vaccinations model”, and does he have confidence in the vaccine roll-out?
Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister for COVID-19 Response): I have full confidence in the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine, which continues to deliver doses ahead of plan. The number of doses delivered at any given time will in part depend on the number of people coming forward to have the vaccine, and there have been some changes to the model since February. I’m confident that all eligible New Zealanders will have the opportunity to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of this year. This morning, the Prime Minister and I announced when different population groups will be eligible. Fifty-plus will be open from Friday, 13 August; 40-plus from Wednesday, 18 August; 30-plus from Wednesday, 25 August; and then, from 1 September, all eligible New Zealanders will be able to book their vaccines.
Chris Bishop: Is it the Government’s expectation that 8,016,768 doses of Pfizer vaccine will be delivered or administered by 21 November, which is roughly 91 percent of the eligible population of 4.38 million?
Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: As I said, there have been some relatively small changes to the model since it was released in February. The model in February assumed the first big deliveries of the Pfizer vaccine would arrive at the beginning of July, and, as we know, they didn’t arrive until the middle of July. So some of those numbers have moved around a bit, but as I said, the aim is to ensure that all eligible New Zealanders have the chance to be vaccinated by the end of the year, and we’re absolutely on track to do that.
Chris Bishop: Well, OK. Is the spreadsheet that is on the Ministry of Health website, that is pointed to every week by the Government, that says that on 21 November 2021, 8,016,768 cumulative doses of vaccinations will be delivered—is that spreadsheet still accurate?
Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The model overall is still accurate, but there can be some changes in timing week from week. For example, as I indicated, the overall effect of us not getting the larger doses of vaccines until towards the middle to end of July, as opposed to at the beginning of July, has an overall impact on the cumulative numbers in some weeks of up to 200,000 to 300,000. But overall, we will still be tracking against that model.
Chris Bishop: So, bearing in mind that there might be some movement around the middle of the roll-out between now and November, is it correct that the Government’s expectation is that by 21 November, just over 8 million cumulative doses of vaccinations will be delivered around New Zealand?
Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The Government’s expectation is that by the end of the year, all New Zealanders who are eligible will have the opportunity to have both doses of their vaccine.
Chris Bishop: Is it correct that after Dr Ashley Bloomfield’s meeting with port CEOs on Tuesday this week, the Government moved to allow all port workers to get vaccinated, if they want one, and not just those interacting with ships, and why hasn’t this been the case since February?
Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Group one, the first people eligible to get the vaccine, included front-line port workers. That included all of the people that we were being questioned about earlier in the week, who have been on and off ships. What is happening now, as we move through group three and into group four, is that more people are becoming eligible, including those who work at the ports who are not in front-line roles.
Chris Bishop: Why has the Government not ordered any Pfizer booster shots for 2022 and 2023 when the CEO of Pfizer has said that orders will be made on a “first come, first served” basis and slow orders means slow delivery?
SPEAKER: Order! Order! It doesn’t come close to either the question or any of the supplementary answers.
Hon Michael Woodhouse: Point of order. The primary had two legs, and it included confidence in the vaccine roll-out. That’s not specific to first vaccine roll-outs; that is a continuous process. I think questions about booster vaccines for 2022 are well within the primary.
SPEAKER: Well, I’m ruling it’s not. The second part of the question must have a relationship to the first or it would have been ruled out. You can’t ask two questions. They are not two separate questions. There is a question and an additional leg to it. They cannot be different questions.
Chris Bishop: Well, point of order. Firstly, the primary question was accepted as being within order. Is it now the case that questions about vaccine delivery in 2022 is not counted as being part of the vaccine roll-out?
SPEAKER: Not when it’s written down. Not when it’s a supplementary part to a question which is relatively limited. The member’s been here for a long time. He should know that. I’ll just make it absolutely straight: primary questions can have two legs, but you cannot have two separate questions.
Chris Bishop: Point of order.
SPEAKER: Well, if this is going to be ongoing, the member will be outgoing.
Chris Bishop: I just—
SPEAKER: A point of order, unrelated, from Chris Bishop.
Chris Bishop: No, it is related.
SPEAKER: The member will sit down, then, because I’m not going to hear it.
