New Zealand announced on Thursday that it would provide free COVID-19 vaccines to its population of 5 million, in addition to additional free vaccines to neighboring nations.
The announcement came when government officials also said the country had bought vaccines from two major developers, AstraZeneca and Novavax, NPR reported.
New Zealand said it would support sending free vaccines to Tokelau, Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa, Tonga and Tuvalu if they request them.
In a statement during a press conference, Prime Minister Jacinda Arden highlighted the initiative as the largest disbursement of vaccination ever made.
“Never before had anyone tried to vaccinate the entire population at once,” Arden said. “This will be a continuous release for months, not weeks, but our pre-purchase agreements put New Zealand in a good position to continue as soon as it is shown to be safe to do so.”
New Zealand also has purchase agreements for Pfizer-BioNTech and Janssen Pharmaceutica vaccines.
The new agreements announced on Thursday provide the island country with access to 7.6 million doses of AstraZeneca, which will vaccinate 3.8 million people, and 10.72 million doses of Novavax, which are enough for 5.36 millions of people, according to the New Zealand government. Both vaccines require two doses to be effective.
“Our approach allows for the possibility that some vaccines may be more appropriate for certain population groups or for their deployment in different areas,” Arden explained.
According to The Guardian, New Zealand’s economy rebounded in the third quarter of the fiscal year, growing 14%. Stats NZ said Thursday that September growth was the strongest quarter in the country’s history.
The 14 percent increase followed an 11 percent drop in June.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson praised the government’s decision to effectively combat the pandemic, saying “the response to the global COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to a better-than-expected economic recovery.”
“Although New Zealand’s economy contracted in 2020, a strong rebound is expected in 2021, surpassing the regions we compare ourselves to such as the euro area, the United Kingdom and Japan,” he said. add the Minister of Finance.