The OECD’s criticism of our slow vaccine rollout should serve as a grim warning to the Government that it needs to pick up the pace, National’s COVID-19 Response spokesperson Chris Bishop says.

New Zealand has the second slowest COVID-19 vaccine rollout in the OECD and ranked 115^th in the world.

“Victoria’s latest lockdown demonstrates precisely why New Zealand needs to get on with vaccinating as many people as possible, as quickly as possible,” Mr Bishop says.

“We were promised by COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins we would be at the front of the queue for vaccines, instead we are at the back.

“The OECD’s forecasts for New Zealand assume our border will open fully by early next year, which seems heroic given how slow our rollout is to date.

“What’s more likely is that the opening of our border will be pushed back due to a significant delay in vaccinating our population.

“It’s clear our vaccine rollout is a shambles.

“The Government attempted to quietly move the goalposts back for when Group 3 and Group 4 vaccinations would start, the national booking system has been delayed by a month, and DHBs don’t even know which of their staff have been vaccinated and which haven’t.

“The vaccine rollout is critical for opening New Zealand up to the rest of the world. The Government must get this right.”

The report can be found here.