{"id":107529,"date":"2021-02-20T03:28:31","date_gmt":"2021-02-20T03:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=107529"},"modified":"2021-02-20T03:28:31","modified_gmt":"2021-02-20T03:28:31","slug":"new-zealand-begins-covid-19-vaccinations-programme-australia-starts-monday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/new-zealand-begins-covid-19-vaccinations-programme-australia-starts-monday\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand begins COVID-19 vaccinations programme, Australia starts Monday"},"content":{"rendered":"
(Reuters) – New Zealand started its official rollout of Pfizer-BioNTech\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine on Saturday, while Australia finalised plans to begin inoculations on Monday, a new phase in tackling the virus that both countries have kept largely contained.<\/p> A small group of medical professionals were injected on Friday in Auckland ahead of the wider rollout which was officially starting with border staff and so-called Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) workers on Saturday, officials said.<\/p>\n In Australia, hotel quarantine and healthcare workers will also be the first cohort to be inoculated at 16 Pfizer vaccination hubs across the nation, alongside older Australians at aged care facilities.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, we kick off the largest immunisation programme in our history, by vaccinating the first of our border workforce, a critical step in protecting everyone in Aotearoa,\u201d New Zealand health minister Ashley Bloomfield told reporters in Auckland, using the country\u2019s indigenous Maori name.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will be moving through these first few days and weeks in a measured way to make sure our systems and processes are solid.\u201d<\/p>\n New Zealand expects its nationwide rollout covering the country\u2019s population of 5 million will take a full year, while Australia aims to inoculate its 25 million citizens by October.<\/p>\n No new COVID-19 infections were reported in the communities of either country in the previous 24 hours despite tens of thousands of tests, officials said.<\/p>\n Both nations ended snap local lockdowns this week after a cluster emerged from a quarantine hotel in Melbourne and as New Zealand authorities investigate how a strain of a highly transmissible UK variant was found in three members of an Auckland family.<\/p>\n The two countries rank among the top 10 globally in a COVID-19 performance index for their successful handling of the pandemic.<\/p>\n Australia has recorded just under 29,000 cases and 909 deaths, while New Zealand has recorded just 26 deaths from 2,350 cases.<\/p>\n