Balancing act with vaccines
You might have heard the country is on the brink of running out of Pfizer vaccine doses. The good news is that is not true.
The bad news (which is also kind of good news) is that some areas are vaccinating so many extra people that we are going through our stocks of Pfizer faster than planned.
The latest confusion has come about because of an announcement the Government made on June 8, that Pfizer would send 1 million extra doses of vaccine in July. Because of global demand for its vaccine, Pfizer has only been confirming the exact details of shipments a few weeks before they arrive in Aotearoa.
It had already promised our Government that the July shipments would be much bigger than all the shipments to date – which have been arriving at a rate of 50,000 to 80,000 doses a week.
That supply rate was fine when we were not vaccinating many people. But now we are giving more than 100,000 doses a week and starting to eat into the supplies that have been built up.
People in some areas have reported not being able to get a vaccine because some sites have run out of doses or are running low. This is not surprising, because every district health board outside of Auckland has gone above its target number of vaccinations. In three areas – Bay of Plenty, Whanganui and Nelson-Marlborough additional shipments it was still expecting in June. The next day, updated supply numbers showed that, yes, vaccine doses were continuing to arrive, with another 50,000 due next week. The Government is still cutting it fine – and it has admitted that on several occasions, saying there is a chance the programme could slow down towards the end of this month.
Hipkins said this week the shipment sizes would really start to ramp up in the latter half of July. Assuming the bulk of those million doses arrive in the final two weeks of July, vaccine supplies could drop as low as 50,000 doses in hand by early July, if the roll-out does not slow down.
The greater question is whether the roll-out is reaching the people it should. Last week, epidemiologist Michael Baker raised concerns with Stuff that the roll-out was moving on to vaccinating people in group 3 without having completed groups 1 and 2. But for now the roll-out is ahead of the target, with no imminent risk of running out of vaccine.
Seventy-five per cent of eligible school students will have access to free period products at school from next week. Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti said 1548 schools and kura around the country had already opted in to receive free period products. The Access to Period Products scheme is part of a wider effort to combat child poverty. The first deliveries will begin from Monday. Schools which had opted into the programme now needed to place orders for products, and those which had not yet opted in to the programme could still do so, Tinetti said. The scheme was trialled in 15 schools and kura in the Waikato in term three last year. The Ministry of Education held a competitive tender process to choose suppliers and chose four. Three are New Zealand brands. Involved in the first phase of the nationwide roll-out are Organic Initiative (Oi), The Warehouse Group, Crimson Organic and Kimberly-Clark (U By Kotex).
Tahi the one-legged kiwi, Wellington Zoo’s only resident kiwi, has died after a long illness. He had lived at the zoo for more than 15 years, unable to be released into the wild because of his missing leg. Zoo chief executive Karen Fifield said it was a huge blow for zoo staff. He had been a part of the zoo longer than she had. ‘‘It has been awful for all of us, to see him deteriorate, even with the very best of veterinary care.’’ Tahi died on the veterinary table two weeks ago, although plans had been finalised to euthanise him due to his continued health decline. Tahi, meaning ‘‘one’’ in te reo because of his one leg, arrived at the zoo after being found in an illegal leg-hold trap, otherwise known as a gin trap in Northland. At that stage he still had juvenile feathers, so the zoo team estimated he was 20-25 years old when he died. He was the only permanent resident in The Twilight, Te Ao Ma¯hina, which is now empty and will be closed for the foreseeable future.
A cardboard Lamborghini that was sold at a charity auction for over $10,000 has been shipped across the country to its new home. The ‘‘Cardborghini’’ yesterday arrived in Christchurch where it will be put on display in a showroom in the city centre. Dean Graham, 55, son of late richlister Neil Graham, bought the cardboard supercar to add to his ‘‘eclectic’’ collection of 120 vehicles. The car was delivered from Auckland by transport company Mainfreight. Graham’s father co-founded the company. The car will be displayed at Mag & Turbo. The proceeds of the auction are being donated to Starship children’s hospital. Graham wants to invite children from the hospital to come down and explore his collection once complete.