There are 18 new cases of Covid-19 recorded in central Fiji, the biggest increase since the pandemic began in March 2020.Ten of the new cases are from two related families in Waila, just outside of Nausori town.Four cases are from a household in Tacirua outside the capital Suva and two cases from a household in Muanikoso, on the outskirts of Nasinu Town.

https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/watch-fear-the-walking-dead-season-6-episode-14-online-full-episodes/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/hd-fear-the-walking-dead-season-6-episode-14-online-full-episodes/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/watch-the-chi-season-4-episode-1-online-full-episodes/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/full-watch-the-chi-season-4-episode-1-hd-online-full-episodes/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/watch-black-monday-season-3-episode-1-online-full-episodes-3/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/full-watch-black-monday-season-3-episode-1-hd-online-free-2/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/black-monday-season-3-episode-1-online-full-episodes-2/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/watch-flatbush-misdemeanors-season-1-episode-1-online-full-episodes/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/hd-godfather-of-harlem-season-2-episode-6-online-full-episodes/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/watch-godfather-of-harlem-season-2-episode-6-online-full-episodes/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/watch-run-the-world-season-1-episode-2-online-full-episodes/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/hd-run-the-world-season-1-episode-2-online-full-episodes/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/watch-the-girlfriend-experience-season-3-episode-5-online-full-episodes/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/hd-the-girlfriend-experience-season-3-episode-5-online-full-episodes/

Health Permanent Secretary Dr James Fong said early investigations have not yet linked the new cases with previous cases.

But the remaining two cases have been linked to five cases in Samabula. One is an Extra Supermarket worker who tested positive on their final swab while in quarantine.

Meanwhile, screening zones now exist in Muanikoso, Samabula, Waila and Tacirua, where intensive testing is being conducted.

"These latest cases involve a number of people who visited well-known shops, grocery stores and other commercial facilities in the area, which will make contact tracing and data we can gain from the careFIJI app very important," Fong said.

Fiji's Ministry of Health has asked journalists to reiterate the proper use of its contact tracing app.

"Please be sure to have the app installed and running on your phone, with Bluetooth turned on."

Fong said the recent cases did not observe Covid-19 protocols, moving in the community and attending social events.

"Therefore, we repeat the advice that we have given repeatedly - and that health authorities worldwide have given repeatedly for more than the past year - to wear masks, wash hands frequently, observe physical distancing always, and avoid crowds.

"And please do not attend social events, and do not invite people in from outside your household."

Fong reiterated the need for people who are back at work to maintain workplace bubbles.

"Don't let your guard down, set an example in your community, and encourage family, neighbours and people you meet to observe these common-sense practices.

"This is very serious."

Health authorities say people who live in containment zones and go outside must wear a mask or face covering.

There are 86 active cases in Fiji, with 224 cases recorded in total since its first case in March 2020.

"All active cases are stable. Transmission is concentrated in the Central Division at this time, in the Suva-Nausori Containment Area, and that is where we are focusing our attention, personnel and resources."

Vaccinations begin on Monday throughout the Central Division for people over 18 years old who have not received their first dose.

This will be done at well-known locations and through mobile vaccination.

Information on vaccination sites will be published every day on the Fijian Government Facebook page.

Staff and patients at the Lautoka subdivisional hospital - which is now 18 days into isolation - are going through their fourth round of testing.

They also plan to complete the second dose of vaccination for all staff sequestered in the hospital by next week.

There were no reports of violations of an agreement that went into effect on Friday, bringing nearly two weeks of violence to an end. A minor skirmish broke out between the Israeli police and Palestinians outside the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

The cease-fire between Israel and Hamas held fast through its first day and into Saturday morning in the Middle East, while residents across Gaza began to assess for the first time the scale of the damage wrought by the latest round of conflict.

https://created.crayola.com/network/members/profile?UserKey=3ba2ed6c-4a83-4d56-b822-9359245df6ed
https://created.crayola.com/network/members/profile?UserKey=b0b0f0c4-19ad-4c0f-b5fd-17111646a146
https://created.crayola.com/network/members/profile?UserKey=cda7c008-96b4-4926-bfa2-348932a22372
https://created.crayola.com/network/members/profile?UserKey=f280e851-e7fa-44b5-987e-0223ccff2726
https://created.crayola.com/network/members/profile?UserKey=d83af765-9138-4ecb-8b0f-cccc8871645b
https://created.crayola.com/network/members/profile?UserKey=0ea77ad0-d196-483f-b92e-46c0cde591f2
https://created.crayola.com/network/members/profile?UserKey=18d71a47-fe86-4855-af64-dfa8ee296977
https://created.crayola.com/network/members/profile?UserKey=4127bdf0-b0c2-4b9e-87e6-6f4b6a63738d

For tens of thousands, the first step was leaving the United Nations-run schools where at least 75,000 had sought shelter from Israeli airstrikes.

Some families emerged on Friday clutching bags and blankets, bound at last for the homes they hoped were still standing.

Others had none left to go back to.

Officials in Gaza said that about 1,000 residential units across the coastal strip had been destroyed and five residential towers brought to the ground, along with an as-yet-uncounted number of businesses.

The bombing also leveled three mosques in Gaza, damaged 17 hospitals and clinics and dozens of schools, wrecked its only Covid-19 testing laboratory, and cut off fresh water, electricity and sewer service to much of the enclave.

The Israeli aerial and artillery campaign killed more than 230 people in Gaza, many of them civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry. More than 4,000 rockets had been fired at Israel from Gaza since May 10, killing 12 people, mostly civilians.

The damage in Gaza is not only a personal disaster for thousands of people and a humanitarian concern for the territory’s two million residents, but also the fertile soil out of which the next military conflict could grow.

“It’s mind-boggling to me that anyone in Israel, or anywhere, thinks that having an impoverished, besieged, angry, young, traumatized, starved population in Gaza is somehow in anyone’s interest, or could in any way produce stability or safety for anyone,” said Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. “It just means it’ll happen all over again.”

On Friday, rescue work was still underway hours after the cease-fire took effect at 2 a.m. Workers digging in what appeared to be a destroyed Hamas tunnel found five bodies and pulled about 10 survivors from the rubble.

Gaza is blockaded by its two neighbors, Israel and Egypt, with Israel saying that it must tightly control access to prevent Hamas from gaining military capabilities and Egypt acquiescing for its own complex political and security reasons.

That means Gazans’ ability to import and export from the territory, get access to medical care outside it or fish off its coast is limited. Unemployment tops 50 percent. Almost no one can leave.

After the last war, in 2014, Israel and Hamas were scheduled to discuss easing the blockade in exchange for disarming Hamas, but little progress was made. The damage then was far more extensive.

Mr. Biden’s strategy of quiet diplomacy was intended to build credibility with the Israelis, in order to privately push them toward an end to the violence in a final conversation with Mr. Netanyahu on Wednesday. And it took into account the need to tread carefully with Mr. Netanyahu.

Aware of the mistakes made by the United States in trying to mediate the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict, Mr. Biden and his team did not want the United States to become the focus of the story. Instead, Mr. Biden tried to create space for Mr. Netanyahu, whom he will need as a partner in the future in dealing with Iran, to achieve his objectives.

“Israel and the United States are going to have big things to work out, in particular Iran,” Mr. Haas said. “The president had to be careful in how he handled Bibi. Both needed to maintain a working relationship so that if and when the Iran situation moved to the front burner, they would be able to work together.”

Mr. Biden began his conversations with Mr. Netanyahu by making no demands. That helped to pave the way for a gently worded statement that came after their third phone call, in which Mr. Biden said he would support a cease-fire, but stopped short of demanding one.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming state Sen. Anthony Bouchard, a Republican trying to unseat U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney next year, disclosed that he impregnated a 14-year-old girl when he was 18, describing the relationship as “like the Romeo and Juliet” story and saying it was coming to light because of “dirty politics.”

https://www.vrfocus.com/author/jinmori/
https://www.vrfocus.com/author/watch-army-of-the-dead-2021-full-online-free-movie/

Bouchard initially disclosed what he described as a typical teenage relationship in a Facebook Live video to supporters Thursday. He later confirmed the girl’s age to the Casper Star-Tribune.

“So, bottom line, it’s a story when I was young, two teenagers, girl gets pregnant,” he said in the video. “You’ve heard those stories before. She was a little younger than me, so it’s like the Romeo and Juliet story.”

Bouchard married the girl when she was 15 and he was 19, when both were living in Florida. They divorced three years later, he told the newspaper.


Bouchard’s ex-wife killed herself when she was 20, he said. Online records list a woman with her name as being buried at a Jacksonville, Florida, cemetery in 1990.

The newspaper chose not to identify the woman.

Bouchard is among at least eight Republicans running against Cheney in 2022 after her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump for the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Story from Humana
Get involved in Humana’s National Senior Games
Humana is on a mission to help seniors get and stay healthy, and no events embody this better than the Senior Games.
See More →
Bouchard said he decided to post the video to get ahead of a story about his previous marriage. In the video, Bouchard claims an unnamed reporter and a “political opposition research company” were driving the effort together.

Bouchard said he didn’t think Cheney was involved in the disclosure and Cheney spokesman Jeremy Adler denied any involvement.

Bouchard and the girl were able to legally marry because Florida at the time allowed marriage at any age with a judge’s approval if a pregnancy was involved and a parent consented.

“A lot of pressure. Pressure to abort a baby. I got to tell you. I wasn’t going to do it, and neither was she,” Bouchard said. “And there was pressure to have her banished from their family. Just pressure. Pressure to go hide somewhere. And the only thing I could see as the right thing to do was to get married and take care of him.”

His son has become “almost” estranged from him after making “some wrong choices in his life,” Bouchard said.

Bouchard, a gun rights activist who co-owns a septic system servicing business with his wife, said the disclosure wouldn’t stop him from seeking higher office.

“Bring it on. I’m going to stay in this race,” he said. “We’re going to continue to raise money because my record stands on its own.”

A couple stranded in Brazil are among migrants overseas who are continuing to work for their New Zealand employers - despite time zone challenges that mean clocking off in the middle of the night.

A company director says the remote working brought on by border closures has been frustrating for him and for his engineer, who has been stuck in China since travel restrictions started there at the beginning of last year.

https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/watch-solos-season-1-episode-7-online-full-episodes/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/hd-solos-season-1-episode-7-online-full-episodes/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/full-watch-the-blacklist-season-8-episode-18-online-full-episodes/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/hd-the-blacklist-season-8-episode-18-online-full-episodes/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/watch-domina-season-1-episode-4-online-full-episodes/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/full-watch-domina-season-1-episode-4-hd-online-free/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/watch-trying-season-2-episode-1-online-full-episodes/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/full-watch-greys-anatomy-season-17-episode-15-online-full-episodes-free/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/watch-greys-anatomy-season-17-episode-15-hd-episodes-online-full/
https://www.dynastynerds.com/advert/watch-the-me-you-cant-see-season-1-episode-1-online-full-episodes/

Janaina Wanderley has kept her job in marketing for an English language school in Auckland by working online from Sao Paulo, while her husband also works remotely in his job as a kitchen designer.

"I usually start working at 5pm Brazilian time so it's 8am in New Zealand," she said. "My husband goes until 2 in the morning working. So it's quite hard. The company values my position and experience, although the Government doesn't care at all. However, they want my money through the taxes I'm still paying."

As for getting another job, she said bureaucratic demands in other countries were different from New Zealand - she could not even apply for work or government funds because all her belongings and documents remained in Auckland.

Auckland University engineering graduate Zhongxin Wang has been locked out for 16 months.

He works for Everest Surveyors/Hollier Greig, which has kept him on because of the key role he plays in a skills shortage area - but he does not fit the criteria to return to New Zealand as a critical worker.

The easing of border restrictions announced so far do not include post-study work visa holders - unless they meet other criteria such as a high salary or working on government-prioritised infrastructure.

"We are working on projects in a number of Kāinga Ora neighbourhoods but predominantly we do private sector work to deliver housing across Auckland," said Wang's company director, Albert Herron.

"I have kept him on all of this time as I expected at some point the government would change their position on this, however they do not seem to be moving on it. Being in engineering, there is a skill shortage and we have already invested heavily in Zhongxin's training - however now I am at a cross-roads and it is very frustrating."

Time zones were also a challenge, he said, with his engineer starting at 2pm New Zealand time.

Herron said he empathised with his civil engineer.

"He has a house here that he's renting and a car, got friends and his life has been here, having finished study here and having lived here for a year post-study, so I think it's pretty frustrating for him. I feel for him as he really does want to be here and it is really impacting on his professional development."

Wang and his partner, who has completed her masters degree, had travelled to China to celebrate Chinese New Year with relatives.

Work challenges include accessing documents online from Beijing and not being able to visit sites, he said.

"I cannot go on-site to check what actually happened and I can only request my colleague to help me to take some photos, but sometimes the photos can't show everything so the start of the job is quite slow and quite hard."

Figures from March this year show 5685 post-study visa holders were still overseas.

Many employers have had to let their graduate workers go - or have kept their job open, but they cannot work remotely. The income from the one to three years of post-graduate work was in many cases meant to pay for the migrants' studies.

"I have a bank loan for which I have to pay a monthly instalment of $1000," said one woman. "Also, I have no income for a year now. I still have my job in New Zealand. They are waiting for me to come and join them. I'm suffering mentally, physically and emotionally because of New Zealand.

"Me and my family are having a real terrible time. I have taken all my parents' savings to New Zealand to pursue higher education and now it's my responsibility to return them, but it's not possible from India to do so."

In a statement, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) said all individual requests for an exception to the border restrictions were considered against strict criteria.

"While Immigration New Zealand is empathetic to the situation some migrants find themselves in as a result of these border restrictions, INZ has no ability to apply discretion when considering requests for border exceptions," said border and visa operations general manager Nicola Hogg.

She confirmed Wang's application for an exemption in November under the "normally resident work visa holder" category was not successful because he held a post-study work visa. Only holders of three other temporary visas were eligible.

"Post-study work visas are just one immigration pathway, and former students with skills needed in New Zealand and a job offer may be eligible for other work visas once the border reopens.

"At this stage, we cannot provide any certainty on when current post-study work visa holders may be able to enter the country, and their current visa expiry remains in place."

For many migrants, that loss of time on their visa - and uncertainty about whether the government will extend their visas when the border re-opens - is adding to their pain.

"Neither the Prime Minister nor the Minister of Immigration has spoken about our [post-study] visas," said Janaina Wanderley, who had two humanitarian applications rejected.

"They included all work to residence visas but forgot to think about what they have sold to all of us in the past - invest your money in NZ education for at least a year and you'll be able to get one to three years of open work visa, which can help you with the residence process in the future. So we all did. I have already lost one year and three months of my visa, some lost their whole visa."

Traces of the Covid-19 virus have now been detected in wastewater systems in four cities: Wellington, Christchurch, Rotorua and Queenstown.There is one new case of Covid-19 in managed isolation reported today by the Ministry of Health.

The case was picked up during day 1 routine testing of a person who came from India via Qatar.The Ministry of Health said wastewater tests had recently detected weak positive results in Wellington, Christchurch, Rotorua and Queenstown.

https://hubhopper.com/podcast/watch-greys-anatomy-season-17-episode-15-online-full-episodes/321752
https://hubhopper.com/podcast/full-watch-greys-anatomy-season-17-episode-15-online-full-episodes/321754
https://hubhopper.com/podcast/hd-legacies-season-3-episode-13-online-full-episodes/321755
https://hubhopper.com/podcast/watch-legacies-season-3-episode-13-online-full-episodes/321756
https://hubhopper.com/podcast/watch-queen-of-the-south-season-5-episode-7-online-full-episodes/321758
https://hubhopper.com/podcast/hd-queen-of-the-south-season-5-episode-7-online-full-episodes/321759
https://hubhopper.com/podcast/watch-solos-season-1-episode-1-online-full-episodes/321762
https://hubhopper.com/podcast/full-watch-solos-season-1-episode-1-online-full-episodes/321764

Subsequent testing has been undertaken from which Queenstown and Wellington have returned negative results. Further testing in Christchurch and Rotorua is underway.

The ministry said its current assessment was that the weak positive results were likely from recent positive cases in managed isolation or due to recently recovered cases who are not infectious but continue to shed the virus after returning home or while travelling.

There is no risk of infection from Covid-19 in wastewater.

Director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said wastewater testing served as an early warning system in the fight against Covid.

"When wastewater testing returns weak positives, it's essential that anyone in these areas with symptoms consistent with Covid-19 stay at home and promptly call Healthline (0800 358 5453) about getting a test," he said.

"Any cases of Covid-19 need to be detected quickly in order to stop the virus spreading in our communities. This is especially important as we head into winter, as people may have the usual winter coughs and colds."


The ministry said a previously reported case had now been reclassified as historical, taking the total number of historical cases identified this year to 61.

The total number of active cases in New Zealand today remains at 24.

The ministry urged everyone in New Zealand to continue using the NZ Covid Tracer app and keep up hygiene measures including wearing a face covering on public transport, washing your hands, and coughing or sneezing into your elbow.

Meanwhile, more than 500,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine will have been delivered to New Zealanders by tomorrow.

Yesterday the Ministry of Health said six people had tested positive in managed isolation and had been moved to quarantine.

One of the new cases flew in from India on May 14 and tested positive to Covid on their day three routine testing, while two others flew in from Qatar on May 14 and 15 and tested positive on days two and three of their stay in managed isolation. The other three cases arrived from Bahrain, Turkey and Maldives and tested positive on their day 0 routine testing.

On Tuesday one person in managed isolation tested positive and on Monday it was five.

That brought yesterday's number of active cases in New Zealand to 25.

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said yesterday that 474,435 doses of the vaccine had been administered and the 500,000 dose mark would be reached by tomorrow.

He said more than 152,000 people were now fully vaccinated.

He also announced a $1.4 billion fund over two years would ensure vaccines were free for every New Zealander.

Almost $1b had been allocated for vaccine purchase agreements, $66.3 million for specialist vaccine equipment and the remaining $356.9m was for technology to support the roll-out.

Auditor-General John Ryan also released a report yesterday into the vaccination rollout, saying a "significant scale-up" was needed if the Government was to hit its vaccination goals.

Even if everything ran according to plan, the goal would only just be achieved, he said.

Last week the rollout was ahead of the delivery target, with just over 120,000 people having had two vaccines doses.

The real challenge would come when larger supplies of the Pfizer vaccine arrived from July.

"I am not yet confident that all the pieces will fall into place quickly enough for the programme to ramp up to the level required over the second half of 2021," Ryan said.

It comes as a vaccination centre in Ōtara said it may have to cut the number of days it operated unless it urgently got more vaccinators.

Ryan noted there were "significant risks" around the number of vaccinators, the distribution model to ensure doses were delivered to the right place and at the right time, and ensuring that Māori, Pasifika, people with disabilities, and hard-to-reach communities were vaccinated.

Hipkins responded by saying it was an ambitious rollout, and he was confident but nervous about it.

"We are going to be pulling out all the stops to make sure that everybody can have a vaccine by the end of the year."

A New Zealander has died after getting a Covid-19 vaccination, but the Ministry of Health says there is no direct link.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed a death had been reported to the Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring (CARM) at today's 1pm update.

Hipkins said the information provided so far suggested the death wasn't linked to the vaccine.

https://hubhopper.com/podcast/watch-the-flash-season-7-episode-10-online-full-episodes/321506
https://hubhopper.com/episode/full-watch-the-flash-season-7-episode-10-online-full-episodes-1621385551
https://hubhopper.com/episode/hd-the-flash-season-7-episode-10-online-full-episodes-1621387225
https://hubhopper.com/episode/watch-the-flash-season-7-episode-10-online-full-episodes-1621387466
https://hubhopper.com/episode/full-watch-the-flash-season-7-episode-10-hd-online-free-1621387588
https://hubhopper.com/episode/the-flash-season-7-episode-10-online-full-episodes-free-1621387922

The death was being investigated by the coroner. "That doesn't mean it is linked to the vaccine. There can be other good explanations," Hipkins said.

Hipkins also announced a $1.4 billion vaccination fund over two years will ensure vaccines are free for every New Zealander.

He confirmed what director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield has already revealed: almost $1 billion has been set aside to buy vaccines, which is yet to be exhausted.

If every Kiwi was fully vaccinated once, all the funding is spent, no vaccine supply is kept in reserve and the money provided for COVAX is comparatively negligible, it works out to cost about $190 a head.

Of the rest of the fund, Hipkins said $66.3 million is for specialist vaccine equipment, including storage facilities and transport, while the remaining $356.9 million is for technology to support the roll-out, funding for DHBs, Medsafe support, and for community immunisation centres.

"In addition to the $1.4 billion, $30 million has gone into vaccine research and the potential for domestic manufacturing, and $75 million for Official Development Assistance funding to support Pacific and global vaccine access," Hipkins said.

"We're closely monitoring the programme to ensure it's as effective and efficient as it can be and so we can prepare to support annual immunisation programmes in future to maintain the ground we have gained."

Hipkins said charging anyone for the vaccine had never been considered, because it's important to have uptake as high as possible.

Hipkins said charging anyone for the vaccine has never been considered, because it's important to have uptake as high as possible.

He said it was hard to say how much vaccines will cost in the future, but they were "likely to get cheaper, and we're likely to get better at it".

"We don't know how many shots of the vaccine people might need. I don't think it would cost this much on a yearly basis."

He said no decisions have been made about keeping the vaccine free on an ongoing basis.

There were six new Covid cases in managed isolation to report today and none in the community.

One of the new cases in MIQ flew in from India on May 14 and tested positive to Covid on their day three routine testing, while two others flew in from Qatar on May 14 and 15 and tested positive on days two and three of their MIQ stay. The other three MIQ cases arrived from Bahrain, Turkey and Maldives and tested positive on their day 0 routine testing.

A historical case reported yesterday as being in a recent returnee in managed isolation had now been reclassified as not being a case.

That meant the total number of active cases in New Zealand today was 25. The country's total number of confirmed cases was 2302.

There will also be an update on Covid-19 test results from wastewater in the Wellington region issued later this afternoon.

Since the start of the year, there had been 60 historical cases, out of a total of 486 cases.

About 14,000 vaccine doses were administered yesterday, and the latest numbers continue to track ahead of the delivery target, Hipkins said.

He said the 500,000 doses mark will be reached in the next 48 hours.

Hipkins said 5358 people had completed the vaccination training programme so far.

Some people in group 3 - 1.7 million people - were already starting to get vaccinated, depending on each DHBs' rollout plans.

Discussions were under way about the five million Janssen vaccines that New Zealand had purchased, including whether the 3 million doses in the second purchase round could be changed, Hipkins said.

Vaccines that were part of agreed purchase agreements included some that will be donated, including AstraZeneca to Fiji.

Hipkins said having the vaccine for everyone from the start of July didn't mean everyone will be vaccinated then. People will be able to use the booking system when it goes live at the start of June.

One vaccine other than Pfizer was likely to be available later this year as a contingency in case Pfizer supplies were held up, but it would still depend on Medsafe approval.

Some of the delay in getting approval for AstraZeneca, he said, was around manufacturing rather than efficacy.

The High Court decision that found the vaccine approval was legally questionable wasn't delaying any of the Medsafe processes, he said. A bill to make give the approval legal certainty will be rushed through Parliament today.

Hipkins said he had "a little bit of anxiety" if the rollout had to scale back before bigger vaccine supplies arrive.

"Beyond July, there's some question marks around exactly what dates what quantities are arriving. Those discussions are literally happening as we speak."

A "significant disruption tot he supply chain" would likely lead to a delay in the rollout, he said.

He was also nervous about ramping up the rollout in the second half of the year.

He said there were three main IT systems, including the vaccination register, which was working well, the inventory management showing where doses are, which he said was also working well.

The booking system is being trialed at the moment. "The feedback I've had is that the trial is going well."

The booking system included a recall system to let people know when to get their second dose.

"These systems are being developed in a hurry, and there might be a need for adjustments as they go live."

Hipkins said many countries have had demand plateau at around 60 per cent, which, if it happened in New Zealand, would create a lot of work at the end of year to boost overall vaccination.

"We've all got a role to play in doing the right thing."

Hipkins said he has been told by epidemiologists that someone who is fully vaccinated was less likely to catch or pass on Covid-19.

AG's report into rollout
Yesterday Auditor-General John Ryan released a report into the vaccination rollout, saying that a "significant scale-up" is needed if the Government is to hit its vaccination goals.

And even if everything ran according to plan, the goal would only just be achieved.

The Health Minister is making an urgent law change after a High Court judgment ruled it was "reasonably arguable" the Government's provisional approval of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine is "problematic".

The case - Nga Kaitiaki Tuku Ihu Medical Action Society Incorporated v The Minister of Health - was in the High Court at Wellington last week.

https://reedsy.com/discovery/post/e07f59a93b
https://reedsy.com/discovery/post/9b5d7f5c8a
https://reedsy.com/discovery/post/cab900eab7

In a decision released today, Judge Rebecca Ellis said: "it is reasonably arguable that the decision to provisionally approve the vaccine for much wider use is problematic" and went beyond the powers of section 23 of the Medicines Act.

Doing so could undermine public confidence in the vaccine and waste vaccine stock that already in New Zealand.

What Ellis said could be problematic was the vaccine being granted for a limited number of New Zealanders - namely those aged over 16.

"While I acknowledge that this is a more "limited" class of persons than "all New Zealanders", a class of that size seems well beyond what is contemplated by a straightforward, purposive, reading of the section," she said.

However, Ellis declined to grant interim orders stopping the vaccine rollout - sought by the plaintiff - on the basis the repercussions "are too great, by some very considerable margin".

In response, Health Minister Andrew Little said the Government was making an urgent "technical amendment to modernise the law".

Little said section 23 had been used over 40 years by successive governments to grant early access to approved medicines when there was public good.

"The law has for some time now, lacked clarity over how it can be applied," Little said.

We already knew the Medicines Act was out of date, which is why we were planning to replace it with a new Therapeutic Products Act.

"Treatments approved under Section 23 go through a rigorous Medsafe approvals process. There are occasions when the health needs of a population call for urgent access to a medicine, vaccine or treatment and we need to keep this option available for some circumstances."

There were six products currently in use under Section 23, including two types of contraceptives, two pandemic flu vaccines, the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine and an electrolyte solution used in hospitals, potentially affected by the decision.

"The Government will introduce a Bill tomorrow to make sure New Zealanders continue to have timely access to the medicines and treatments they need. The Medicines Amendment Bill is expected to be passed under urgency tomorrow in order to protect New Zealanders' early access to medicines when needed," Little said.

Legal challenge
Much of the case by applicant Nga Kaitiaki Tuku Ihu Inc had focused on whether the vaccine being rolled out to the majority of the country fitted within the provisional consent legislation in the Medicines Act that it had been granted under.

The vaccine, Pfizer-BioNTech Covid 19, has been formally tested on more than 40,000 people - half received the vaccine, the other half a placebo which consisted of slightly salty water. Since it started being used widely, tens of millions of people have now received it.

In a press release, the group said the judge had agreed that everyone in New Zealand over 16 is not a limited number of patients.

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said that the court judgement showed "a weakness in the Medicines Act".

"It affects the flu jab and a variety of other things that have been approved using the provisional approval in the Medicines Act.

"The courts have interpreted the provisional approval in a way that doesn't reflect the current practice. The Government intends to bring before Parliament very quickly some legislation to tidy up what is largely a technical issue rather than a substantive issue."

The vaccine was safe, he added.