“Today’s news of a near hit or miss with Omicron should be a wake up call for the Government’s lazy vaccine program. Four-month boosters are our strategy for Omicron but there’s absolutely no urgency getting them ready, that should change today,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.
“Book My Vaccine still isn’t updated for four-month boosters. If you got your second dose in August, you can’t book a Booster until six months later, in February. If Boosters are our strategy for Omicron, how difficult is it to change one number in a booking system from “6” to “4?”
If you could book a four month booster, there’s no bookings at all until January 5. Perhaps there is a need for vaccinators to have a rest, but that doesn’t apply to the entire retail sector who’re working double time right now. There’s either a crisis or there isn’t.
"The Government has decided there's enough of a crisis to keep the border closed for an extra six weeks. There's not enough of a crisis to keep vaccinating though.
“Meanwhile paediatric vaccines aren’t available until January 17 despite the FDA approving them in October. Nobody believes that Medsafe is going to tell the world they got it wrong and stop New Zealand 5–11-year-olds being vaccinated for COVID. It’s a shell game.
“At times like this, you have to hope we’ve dodged yet another bullet. If someone with Omicron is going to go to a night club and not spread it, of course it will be in the luckiest COVID country on earth, New Zealand.
“Whether it’s a hit or near miss, the Dimension case should be a wake up call to get the vaccination roll out on track. If it is possible for someone to get a vaccination, it should be available, without needless bureaucratic delays."