Hipkins’ halo in danger of slipping further over vaccination silence

COVID Response Minister Chris Hipkins has got himself into a pickle over the slow pace of New Zealand’s vaccination plan because he has been slow to speak plainly about what is happening.

With Australia announcing an earlier rollout in February, and Singapore already having started its vaccinations for border workers, New Zealand’s April rollout is looking slow compared with similar countries with Covid19 largely under control.

National and Act New Zealand have seized on both those factors, the uncertainty over delivery and the faster timetables of others, to paint the picture of the New Zealand Government taking it easy.

It is an irresistible temptation for an Opposition at a time when unsettling data shows the number of Covid19 cases being picked up at the border having doubled in the past two weeks.

And why would the Opposition not be buoyed? The

Government has finally agreed to introduce preflight Covid testing for most arrivals to New Zealand, something it appeared to reject for many months simply because it was being proposed by the Opposition.

After calls for action on vaccines from the Opposition, Mr Hipkins has said the Government was trying to get some earlier batches of vaccine for 10,000 or so highrisk border workers.

Not trying at all would definitely paint a picture of a Government taking it easy and not trying hard enough.

But Mr Hipkins, the usually plainspeaking minister, has become beige in his descriptions of what is going on.

He is clearly trying to avoid getting into specifics, or setting targets or expectations that might not be met in volatile international conditions.

Mr Hipkins’ halo slipped at the end of last year when he withheld an important and damning report into the Covid response until the week before Christmas.

It is in danger of slipping further. So far, Mr Hipkins has got away with the lack of urgency because there has been no recent incursion of Covid into the community despite the more contagious strains presenting. But that could change in a flash.

National has read the public right on vaccines. There is disquiet about the virulent strains escaping into the community. And Mr Hipkins has been slow to recognise it and explain what is going on, what is realistic in terms of early delivery of vaccines and what is unreasonable.

The Government is highly sensitive to accusations of nondelivery.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern began 2019 proclaiming it to be the ‘‘year of delivery’’ and then spent most of it defending the Government’s record on nondelivery on some big items.

She will not make that mistake when Labour ministers and MPs meet today in Nelson for the first time this year.

Nor should the Government dismiss concerns over vaccine supply simply because it is the Opposition raising them.

Singapore got its first vaccines on December 21. New Zealand’s are due to arrive at an indeterminate time in the first quarter of 2021 for a rollout starting in April.

An explanation is required.

GENEVA: The world is on the brink of ‘‘catastrophic moral failure’’ in sharing Covid19 vaccines, the head of the World Health Organisation has warned, urging countries and manufacturers to spread doses more fairly around the world.

WHO directorgeneral Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the prospects for equitable distribution were at ‘‘serious risk’’ just as its Covax vaccinesharing scheme aimed to start distributing inoculations next month.

He noted 44 bilateral deals were signed last year and at least 12 had been signed this year.

‘‘This could delay Covax deliveries and create exactly the scenario Covax was designed to avoid, with hoarding, a chaotic market, an uncoordinated response and continued social and economic disruption,’’ he said.

Such a ‘‘mefirst approach’’ left the world’s poorest and most vulnerable at risk, he said at the opening of the body’s annual executive board meeting in virtual format.

‘‘Ultimately, these actions will only prolong the pandemic,’’ he added, urging countries to avoid making the same mistakes made during the H1N1 and HIV pandemics.

The global scramble for shots has intensified as more infectious virus variants circulate.

Tedros said more than 39 million vaccine doses had been administered in 49 higherincome countries, whereas just 25 doses had been given in one poor country.

A delegate from Burkina Faso, on behalf of the African group, expressed concern at the meeting that a few countries had ‘‘hoovered up’’ most of the supplies.

Observers say this board meeting, which lasts until next Wednesday, is one of the most important in the UN health agency’s history and could shape its role in global health long after the pandemic ends.

On the agenda is reform of the body as well as its financing system, which was revealed as inadequate after its largest donor, the United States, announced its withdrawal last year.

‘‘WHO has to remain relevant and . . . has to come out of this crisis with more strength than before,’’ WHO executive board vicechairman Bjoern Kuemmel, of Germany, said last week.

He expected resistance from some countries to pressure to boost financial contributions.