The National Party wants to speed up the paediatric Covid-19 vaccination rollout, host school-based pop-up vaccination clinics, and conduct ventilation assessments in classrooms, as part of its 10-point Omicron plan.
That’s in addition to a number of other ideas previewed by leader Christopher Luxon on Tuesday. These included the immediate end of MIQ, increasing the availability of rapid antigen tests (RAT) and reducing isolation times for Covid-19 cases and close contacts to seven days.
Covid-19 spokesperson Chris Bishop said a plan was needed because the Government’s Delta and Omicron responses were “marked by on-the-fly decision-making and a real lack of planning”.
The party wanted to expedite the vaccine rollout for those aged between 5 to 11. To achieve that, it wanted to host pop-up vaccination clinics in schools, with “strict parental consent provisions in place”.
The Government had opted to largely ask kids to get vaccinated in other locations because it wanted to take a “whānau-based" approach where families would get vaccinated and boosted together.
Bishop said the Government showed a “lack of urgency” when it came to speeding up approvals for those younger than 12 to be able to get fully vaccinated and boosted.
The paediatric vaccine rollout was hampered early on by logistical issues, with parents struggling to book slots in advance and some pharmacies reporting they found it challenging to get stock.
Also among the party’s proposals was to create best practice guidelines for classroom ventilation using the latest international evidence.
Once guidelines were in place, National wanted ventilation assessments in every school to identify areas of poor ventilation so it could be addressed or avoided.
“As children return to school over the coming weeks, we need to adopt an approach that minimises the risk of the virus while allowing students and teachers to return safely to the classroom,” the plan read.
The plan confirmed an earlier detail Luxon had revealed on Tuesday, which was to provide twice-weekly RATs for all students and school staff.
When asked how many students and teachers the RATs would have to cover, Luxon could not say the exact number. (Source: 1News)
Luxon wasn’t able to say how many RATs would be needed to fulfill National's promises as he did not know the number of students and teachers in New Zealand. The 10-point plan didn’t provide any further detail on the topic.
Bishop said access to new Covid-19 treatments also needed to be improved in New Zealand.
“There are a variety of exciting new next-generation treatments that can reduce the worst Covid health outcomes. The Government needs to make sure we have a supply of these treatments as soon as possible and that approval for new treatments is expedited.”
He wanted the Government to consider granting emergency authorisation to treatments already approved in places like the UK, US, and Australia.
Sarah Dalton of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists says sustainable staffing is needed. (Source: Breakfast)
To plug shortages in the health system, Bishop also suggested allowing overseas healthcare workers to skip MIQ and self-isolate instead.
National also wanted to fast-track giving overseas health professionals already in the country their credentials even if they hadn’t completed work experience requirements, provided they had passed their examinations.
Among National’s other suggestions were increasing the use of and distributing high-quality masks, like N95s, to high-risk venues, and clarifying what financial support was available for businesses.
The Government’s tougher mask rules, which it introduced because of Omicron, came into force on Thursday night.
It’s been a week since the country went into the red traffic light setting where mask requirements are more widespread. (Source: 1News)
“New Zealanders deserve to know what the triggers will be - in terms of case numbers, booster coverage, or falling hospitalisation rates - for things like the move from Red to Orange to Green under the traffic light system, the eventual removal of gathering limits and restrictions on hospitality, when the vaccine pass system will no longer be required, and at what point vaccine mandates will be allowed to expire,” Bishop added.
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