The government announced booster shots for the vaccinated will roll-out at the end of the month as vaccine mandates started to take effect for school staff, while 173 new cases were announced today.
Photo: RNZ / Tom Kitchin / NZME file / Google Maps
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced this afternoon after a Cabinet meeting that boosters will be available starting 29 November for anyone 18 and over who is at least six months from their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
About 144,000 people have been vaccinated for more than six months already, and that number would increase to 455,847 by the end of the year.
There were 173 new community cases of Covid-19 announced today - 163 in Auckland, seven in Waikato, two in Northland and one in Lakes District, plus an additional announcement of the first case in the Wairarapa in Masterton, which will be added to tomorrow's total.
There are 90 people in hospital with the coronavirus and seven are in ICU.
Ardern said there was no need to rush to get the booster, as the science showed fully vaccinated people remained well protected from infection and serious illness from Covid-19.
The country's vaccine supply remained strong, she said.
"Last month we secured an extra 4.7 million doses of Pfizer for 2022, and we also recently approved the use of Astrazeneca for those who are unable to have Pfizer."
"The supply is enough, even if in the future eligibility extends to five to 11-year-olds, or we have a surge of people getting vaccinated or getting boosters."
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists chief executive Sarah Dalton told Checkpoint the announcement of Pfizer Covid-19 booster shots from the end of November was "brilliant" but came just in time.
"One of our members who works in an ED said he would go and get a third jab privately, that's how concerned he was. He's dealing with Covid-positive patients on a daily basis."
Waikato to drop to Level 2
Also this afternoon, Ardern announced that Waikato would drop down to Alert Level 2 at 11.59pm tomorrow.
Ardern said the people of Waikato had helped contain an outbreak that could have spread much wider.
There have been 239 cases in the Waikato since the region moved into level 3 six weeks ago. Ardern said the region had the second-highest testing rate in the country, and was just 3893 doses from reaching 90 percent first doses.
Ardern said the decision to drop to Level 2 was also a temporary one, in that the government was hoping to move all of New Zealand to the Covid Protection Framework or traffic light system which would replace alert levels.
Auckland has already been tentatively slotted to go to that system after the 29 November Cabinet meeting.
Testing in Woodville today. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Covid-19 marches down south
Today the first case in the Wairarapa was reported in Masterton, as well as a new case in Taupō.
Over the weekend, the virus emerged in Taupō, Rotorua and the Tararua district.
Sadly, one of the positive cases on the weekend was a woman who gave birth prematurely at Rotorua Hospital whose baby later died.
Rotorua Hospital was among several new Locations of Interest added today.
Ardern told Morning Report that the spread of the virus around the North Island was "not unexpected."
"It is not unexpected that we have over this period of time now begun to see cases seeded in other places - just worth noting though for the most part there is either a link or a strong theory as to how it's come to be in those places - mostly linked back to Auckland."
Strong testing and vaccinations were reported at many of the new Covid-19-affected communities.
By 11am about 100 people had queued at the Woodville Health Centre for a test.
In Taupō, RNZ reporter Tom Kitchin said 573 tests were recorded as of 5pm today, compared with 93 last Monday.
Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
School vaccine mandates kick in
A Northland high school principal said she had been accused of being "complicit in mass genocide" by people opposed to getting vaccinated.
After today, anyone who works or volunteers in an education setting who has not received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine will be barred from school grounds.
Whangārei Boys High School principal, Karen Gilbert-Smith, said the abuse was coming from a minority, but it was vehement.
"We get a lot of emails from parents: the vast majority of those are positive, but the ones that kind of take the wind out of your sails and that require the most thoughtful response are the ones that are really awful and vindictive," she said.
"I think the worst message that I got was that I was complicit in mass genocide by supporting the vaccination mandate."
Principal of Whangārei Intermediate, Hayley Read, said she had a handful of vaccine-hesitant staff and she expected to hear their final decisions on whether they will quit their jobs at the end of the day.
"It's probably one of the worst days of my career. I've been a principal for 21 years and I've come across lots of other challenges, but losing staff under these conditions is really challenging for me."
While schools have worried about staff leaving under mandates, Ardern said at today's press conference that only 11 schools - of more than 2500 in the country - were reporting a high risk of staffing issues.
After protests last week over mandates and vaccinations where some were seen using the haka, Ngāti Toa called for them to stop using its haka, Ka Mate.
The iwi says it was moved to make a statement after witnessing the haka being performed at anti-vaccine protests.
"As the descendants of Te Rauparaha, we insist that protesters stop using our taonga immediately," Pou Tikanga Dr Taku Parai said in a statement.
"We do not support their position and we do not want our tupuna or our iwi associated with their messages. "
Vouchers and more to push vaccines
Health authorities are particularly concerned that the rural Māori population is most at risk as Covid-19 marches around the country.
"Our vaccination rates aren't where I would have wanted them to be to actually have positive cases in the community," said Tararua District Mayor Tracey Collis.
"We only have one focus here. We need to get our community vaccinated and get them to the 90 percent," Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz told Checkpoint.
The Taranaki DHB announced they were offering a $20 voucher to everyone who gets vaccinated for Covid-19 until the end of the month.
The incentive begins tomorrow and includes the main vaccination centres in New Plymouth and Hāwera, and all participating GPs, pharmacies and Māori health providers.
Nationally, there were 14,638 first and second vaccine doses administered yesterday, made up of 4645 first doses and 9993 second doses.
To date, 90 percent of eligible New Zealanders have had their first dose and 81 percent are fully vaccinated.
While the virus continues to slowly spread south, Auckland's Covid-19 outbreak is on track to reach a peak by the end of November, said a modeller, but that could change.
Te Punaha Matatini data modeller, Shaun Hendy, said case numbers were expected to get as high as 300 per day before tapering off in the current, most likely, scenario.
"That's still a lot, but it's better than some of the worse case scenarios where things don't peak until December or January and then we see much worse case numbers," he said.