NZ passes two million jabs; two new cases in MIQ

The Ministry of Health says nearly 1.3 million people have had the vaccine. Photo: Getty Images
Almost 770,000 people in New Zealand have had two doses and are fully vaccinated. Photo: Getty Images
The Ministry of Health today confirmed that New Zealand has now passed the 2 million vaccine jabs milestone.

Of these, 1,251,000 are first doses and almost 770,000 people have had two doses and are fully vaccinated.

There are no new community cases of Covid-19 and two in MIQ today. The two new MIQ cases are travellers from Ghana and Britain.

Health officials said contact tracing staff have also identified 2,995 people who returned on managed flights who had travelled from Victoria between 25 and 30 July and required under a section 70 notice to isolate until a negative day 3 test.

Of those, 2611 have so far returned a negative test and the remainder were currently being assessed for follow-up.

As of Monday evening there had been 1.97m doses of the Pfizer vaccine administered across the country, including more than 750,000 people now fully vaccinated.

This comes after a mass vaccination event in Manukau, Auckland, over the weekend where more than 15,000 people received their first dose of the vaccine.

The rollout moved into Group 4, the general population, from last week with people aged over 60 now able to book a vaccination.

Anybody classed as in the other priority groups are still able to book a vaccination.

As the vaccination rollout continues to increase in numbers, concerns remain about its equity.

The gap in rates between Māori and non-Māori continues to widen. As of last week 8.5 percent Māori had been vaccinated.

The Government says this is because Māori have a lower life expectancy - seven years - and therefore there were less older Māori in the first priority groups.

It says the rates for Māori aged over 65 are about equal with non-Māori, however it has refused to release the data supporting the claim.

Health experts have slammed this justification as "racist and upholding privilege".

This, and evidence Māori were much more likely to catch Covid-19 and have more severe outcomes, were part of expert advice the Government rejected to give higher vaccine priority to Māori and Pacific peoples aged 50-64.