New Zealand borders to stay shut till citizens are 'vaccinated and protected', says Arden

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced that the borders will remain impacted and would not open again until New Zealanders are "vaccinated and protected". According to the reports by The Guardian, she said that New Zealand will feel like it has returned to normal only when there is a certain level of normality in the rest of the world too. Also, as she looks at the uncertainty of the global rollout of the vaccine, she is expecting the borders to be impacted for much of this year. 

'Will take some time' 

In order to begin travel again, one needs to ensure that they are vaccinated and they do not pass on the virus further after that. However, that remains unsure as of now, says Ardern. Talking further about the issue, she said, both these possibilities will ‘take some time’. According to a tally by the Johns Hopkins University, New Zealand has a total of 2,290 cases with 29 fatalities. 

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During mid-December, Ardern announced that New Zealand has ordered 15 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from four different pharmaceuticals. Terming it as the country’s "largest-ever immunisation programme", the New Zealand government has reportedly secured 750,000 jabs from Pfizer, 5 million from Janssen, 3.8 million from Oxford/AstraZeneca and 5.36 million from Novavax. Talking about the mass inoculation, Ardern said New Zealand would have to wait till the second quarter of the next year to get the vaccines. However, once the process starts healthcare workers and border officials would be prioritised. She also revealed that vaccines would be free of cost for every resident in the country.

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Ardern also stressed that not all vaccine jabs would be used in New Zealand. A proportion of it would be sent to pacific nations as a part of the government's vaccine 2021 plan. Earlier, New Zealand announced NZ $75 million to help pacific nations vaccinate their populations.

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(Image Credits: AP)