National will not automatically support the Government’s bid to authorise a second Covid-19 booster and wants to see the legislation first.
A week ago Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins announced that a second booster would be made available to the most vulnerable to ensure they had as much protection as possible from the pandemic disease.
However this week, the Government realised the present Covid-19 legislation and regulations did not automatically allow it to make the vaccine available, and it has rapidly drafted a Medicines Bill, to be debated under urgency when Parliament next sits, on Tuesday.
Yesterday National leader Chris Luxon, while on a visit to Dunedin, said his party completely supported vaccination.
"A second booster vaccination for our vulnerable population is a good idea, no doubt about it.
"But we have a different mechanism in New Zealand for how we activate that, that is what this legislation is about, because other countries do it differently ... but we need to see what the detail is first."
It is understood National is concerned about how broad the authorisation for the new vaccination will be and whether it will allow a booster for all who want one.
Questions might also be raised about the implications for anyone who chooses not to receive it.
A spokesman for Covid-19 response Minister Chris Hipkins said National has been consulted on the Bill at least 10 days ago, and there had been a number of conversations since.
It is understood that the government will decide on whether further Covid-19 vaccinations will be authorised for the wider community after it receives further clinical advice on the question.
Mr Luxon fielded plenty of questions during a busy day in Dunedin.
He began among friends, as many local National party hierarchy gathered at the Kaikorai Valley premises of collabHQ, which Mr Luxon officially opened.
In his speech there, Mr Luxon stressed the importance business should play in the country’s economic recovery from Covid-19, a theme he was to repeat at his major appointment, for the day, a lunchtime speech to Business South.
Having just passed his six-month anniversary as National leader, Mr Luxon is still doing "getting to know you" speeches, and spent much of his time talking about his business career and the reason for his switch to politics.
His main focus was on the adequacy, or otherwise, of the economic response to Covid-19.
"We have been playing a very small, very inward, very negative, very weak game, and out there in the world there are 7.8billion people in 195 countries and we have to be much more focused on how we built connectivity with them and encourage enterprise, innovation and aspiration in New Zealand."
The Government also needed to tackle the high cost of living by allowing New Zealanders to keep more of their money through the tax system, he said.
A wide-ranging question and answer session afterwards touched on climate change, infrastructure, education and justice issues.
Mr Luxon also spoke about the importance of the government funding appropriate mental health services when he visited a local mental health charity later in the day.
- An interview with Mr Luxon will appear in tomorrow’s Otago Daily Times.
