This Weekend Holds Mass COVID-19 Vaccination, New Zealand Targets Giving 100 Thousand Doses A Day

Illustration of a COVID-19 center in New Zealand. (Wikimedia Commons/Ballofstring)

JAKARTA - New Zealand is seeking to break a record of delivering 100,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine in a day, when it rolls out mass immunizations on October 16, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said to speed up vaccination percentages, before easing restrictions in Auckland.

Prime Minister Ardern on Tuesday urged the country's residents over the age of 12 to be willing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine to help New Zealand become one of the most protected and high vaccination rates in the world.

To date, around 2.44 million or 58 percent of New Zealand's total population over the age of 12 have received the full dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

"Nothing is stopping us other than people (not) showing up (receiving the vaccine)", PM Ardern said at a news conference in Wellington.

New Zealand, which remained largely virus-free for much of the pandemic until the outbreak of the Delta variant in mid-August, has so far recorded 4,345 confirmed cases overall and 28 deaths.

Today, Kiwi Country reported 43 new cases of locally acquired COVID-19 on Tuesday, with most in its largest city Auckland, up from 35 the day before.

To note, as many as 1.7 million Auckland residents entered lockdown in mid-August in a bid to quell the Delta variant outbreak. Several restrictions were relaxed last week, including leaving the house to connect with loved ones outdoors, with the 10-person limit, as well as going to the beach and parks.