A Covid-19 Response Recognition Award will be given to groups of frontline workers for their service during the pandemic, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today.
"The award has been designed to be in keeping with the likes of military service, and takes the form of a lapel pin with up to 80,000 pins to be given to individuals in the workforce groups identified," Ardern said.
The groups include the MIQ workforce, the international border workforce, the Covid testing workforce, the contact tracing workforce, the vaccination workforce and doctors, nurses, and healthcare staff caring for Covid patients.
"All New Zealanders, at home and abroad, played a part in our successful response to Covid-19, and I thank them for that. But we also want to acknowledge those New Zealanders whose roles were particularly critical," Ardern said.
"Their efforts were vital to our national response, and this award is one way we can recognise and thank them for stepping up during our most challenging days...we owe them a debt of gratitude for carrying that burden on behalf of us all."
Distribution of the awards will being in late January.
An "organisational award" will also be given to recognise the collective efforts of non-government organisation workers that provided social service support as part of the Covid response, Ardern added.
"Many organisations and iwi provided services that helped people to stay safe and healthy during periods of lockdown or self-isolation, particularly vulnerable and marginalised communities," she said.
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