NZ sets 90% vaccine target to end curbs

WELLINGTON: New Zealand will end its strict coronavirus lockdown measures and restore more freedoms only when 90% of its eligible population is fully vaccinated, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said yesterday.

New Zealand has been unable to beat an outbreak of the Delta variant centred in Auckland, forcing her to abandon her elimination strategy and switch to living with the virus.

She said reaching a 90% inoculation rate at every District Health Board would make New Zealand one of the most vaccinated countries in the world. Some 68% of eligible New Zealanders are fully vaccinated and 86% have had one dose.

“Ultimately we have balanced the desire to re-open quickly while continuing to keep people safe,” she said at a conference in the capital Wellington.

Vaccine certificate will be central to the new system, which will also use three settings — green, orange and red — to manage fresh outbreaks and cases, she said.