Tim of the Oak
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 29 Dec 2012
- Messages
- 18,038
New Zealand is approximately the same size as the U.K, with demographic and geographical advantages. Of course they have big challenges ahead so does Israel and the U.K, who were at the forefront of the vaccine roll out.Would love to believe New Zealand can truly 'eliminate' Covid but it seems a trick that will be all but impossible if they ever want to fully open up to the world. Because a country that has almost no immunity from T Cells etc from a population that has largely caught it will always be vulnerable to the next variant of concern arriving on its shores unless it seals off indefinitely.
Of course, if anyone can do it New Zealand would be it. A tiny island nation effectively out of reach by most other places unless you intend to be going there.
Will be interesting to see how it pans out for them and I hope her confidence is justified as any way out of this mess that is proven to work - even if unlikely to translate to most other nations on our crowded planet - will tell us useful things about what to do the next time we get something like Covid only much worse.
You can bet terrorists have already seen the way economies can be brought to their knees with a virus in a far more terrifying manner than with guns.
New Zealand needs to ramp up vaccine roll out but it’s always more difficult to create urgency when there are very few cases. At least medicine and science has advanced over the last 20 months.
Btw, If I was living in New Zealand I wouldn’t be in a rush to open up borders beyond Australasia. The Kiwis were having a fantastic lifestyle when we were deep in lockdown.