“We have further evidence today that New Zealand is nowhere near the front of the queue, with the Bloomberg Covid Vaccine Tracker hitting 60 countries where vaccination programmes have started,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“What makes more of a mockery of the Government’s claims to be moving hard and early on vaccine is that of the 37 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries we tend to benchmark ourselves against we’re one of only five yet to begin vaccinating.

“By next month that will be three, with Australia and South Korea starting vaccinations in February.

“Japan is due to start vaccinating in March, New Zealand in April and Colombia is the only remaining country in the OECD without a firm timetable.

“This is further evidence that New Zealand has negotiated poorly when securing global contracts for vaccines.

“We’ve got enough medicine coming to vaccinate the country twice, but we didn’t ask – or pay enough – to receive it promptly.

“That leaves New Zealanders at considerable risk of contracting the virulent new mutations of Covid-19, in particular our frontline border and health workers.”

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