A Milestone
Dec. 16th, 2021 01:03 pmNew Zealand is celebrating reaching an important goal today: of our eligible population (currently 12+), pretty much 90% are now double-dose vaccinated.
This doesn't mean we're out of the woods, obviously. The average hides worrying figures. While my area, central Auckland, is almost 95% fully vaxxed, there are lots of less populated areas of New Zealand whose rates are lower (the lowest being 81%). And once Omicron gets here, which it inevitably will, as we know two doses are far from enough protection.
Nevertheless, I'm taking a moment for a small cheer. When the government set a vaccination goal of at least 90%, many people thought we'd never reach it. We've already seen the benefit, as our Delta numbers didn't rise as high and have fallen faster than the modelling suggested. Sorry, antivaxxers: vaccines work.
Edited to amend the last sentence, which doesn't convey our Covid response accurately: vaccines, lockdowns, Covid testing, contract tracing, genetic sequencing, wastewater testing, masking, social distancing, restricted borders, border quarantine, self-isolation and just generally following the bloody science work.
This doesn't mean we're out of the woods, obviously. The average hides worrying figures. While my area, central Auckland, is almost 95% fully vaxxed, there are lots of less populated areas of New Zealand whose rates are lower (the lowest being 81%). And once Omicron gets here, which it inevitably will, as we know two doses are far from enough protection.
Nevertheless, I'm taking a moment for a small cheer. When the government set a vaccination goal of at least 90%, many people thought we'd never reach it. We've already seen the benefit, as our Delta numbers didn't rise as high and have fallen faster than the modelling suggested. Sorry, antivaxxers: vaccines work.
Edited to amend the last sentence, which doesn't convey our Covid response accurately: vaccines, lockdowns, Covid testing, contract tracing, genetic sequencing, wastewater testing, masking, social distancing, restricted borders, border quarantine, self-isolation and just generally following the bloody science work.