High vaccine uptake needed to end use of Level 4 - Ardern

September 23, 2021

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said improving vaccine efficacy is key to preventing major outbreaks.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has outlined the pivotal role a high uptake of Covid-19 vaccines plays in keeping the country moving in a post-pandemic society. 

"With very high levels of vaccines, we can take Level 4 out of the toolbox and instead set it aside.

"It all comes down to vaccinations," she said. 

It comes after Covid-19 modelling released by Te Pūnaha Matatini on Thursday suggested that a vaccination rate of 90 per cent and above would be needed to minimise lockdowns, and prevent mass hospitalisations and thousands of deaths. 

Ardern said the data showed getting vaccinated offered a "cause for hope" and gave the potential to ease restrictions. 

"In the beginning of our battle against Covid-19, we used lockdowns because none of us could risk being exposed to the virus.

"With vaccines, we can turn that model on its head. We can isolate those who have Covid-19 rather than everyone."

She said that becoming fully vaccinated helped to provide a barrier, meaning people were far less likely to become unwell if they were exposed to the virus. 

Ardern acknowledged that vaccination alone "isn't enough" to stamp out future spreads of Covid. 

"That might not have been the case for other variants of Covid, but unfortunately Delta is more transmissible.

"If we just used vaccines and nothing else and there is an outbreak in New Zealand, it could still lead to quite widespread outbreaks and hospitalisations."

"If there is an unvaccinated person, it is very good at finding that person eventually, and the next one, and the next one. Until it's quickly found a lot of people and potentially overwhelmed our health system." 

Ardern said the Government's need to enforce other safety measures to protect the country during Covid-19 outbreaks will be "very much down to how many people we vaccinate". 

"With very high levels of vaccines, we can take Level 4 out of the toolbox and instead set it aside. It all comes down to vaccinations." 

"We can vaccinate, we can isolate, we can control it and there is room for optimism," she said. 

"We have the supply of vaccines we need, we have the workforce to do the job so have that conversation with your whānau and friends."

Professor Michael Plank said the country could control Covid-19 with sustainable public health measures if it were to reach 90 per cent. 

The data showed any alternative would be bleak and if only 80 per cent of eligible New Zealanders were vaccinated, there could still be as many as 60,000 hospitalisations and 7.000 deaths in a year from Covid-19. 

Jacinda Ardern.


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