N. Zealand to vaccinate general population from Covid-19 in July

Sydney, Australia, Jun 17 (EFE).- New Zealand, one of the countries that has best managed the coronavirus pandemic, will begin to vaccinate the general population from Covid-19 from Jul. 28 and plans to end inoculations before the end of the year, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Thursday.

Ardern’s government began its immunization campaign Feb. 20 with the use of Pfizer doses on workers at border posts and quarantine centers, followed by those in the health sector and jobs at risk of contagion, as well as vulnerable people.

Ardern said in a statement that from Jul. 28, New Zealand residents, citizens or immigrants over 60 will be vaccinated, according to a government schedule based on age and risk that ends in October, after which it will inoculate those under 35.

“High levels of vaccination will ensure that we retain our hard-won freedoms and the proud place we hold as one of the few COVID-free countries in the world in the community,” Ardern said in urging the more than five million residents of the country to be immunized.

New Zealand, whose management of the pandemic has been considered the best in the world, has accumulated a total of 2,357 covid-19 infections since the pandemic began, including 356 cases classified as probable, and 26 deaths, as well as 24 active infections, all of them in the quarantine centers for travelers. EFE

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