The genuine vaccine haves and have-nots
The last thing I want is a war of words with fellow Herald columnist Richard Prebble, but he did write something the other day that got me thinking,
Referring to New Zealand’s decision not to pay a premium for early vaccine delivery, the former Labour Minister, then Act leader, asked: “Is an African life worth more than a Kiwi life?”
By declining to pay Pfizer extra, Prebble appeared to contend, we had fallen behind the rest of the world, including the African continent, when it comes to inoculating against Covid.
Wow, I thought. Big deal if true, as a rule, when it aligns with self-interest. If, as suggested, the Ardern Government had held back New Zealand’s vaccine rollout as a gift to the world’s poor, this really would be taking the Kindness Doctrine to a whole new level.
So I thought I’d look into whether Prebble and other critics of the Government’s plan have a point. Has woke progressivism really elevated the value of African lives above our own?
To say the answer is “no” understates the case. Let’s take stock of where we stand with respect to vaccinations, and contrast it to the state of play in the developing world. To begin with, the Government has secured enough vaccines for everyone — signed and sealed, if not yet delivered. New Zealand has administered more than 1.4 million doses so far. Assuming every person needs two doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 14.3 per cent of the population.
We would all like the jab sooner, but there’s no reason to doubt everyone will get protected once supplies and logistics allow, even if