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Dear John --
Today, National released our plan
to tackle COVID-19, end lockdowns, and reopen to the world.
Our
plan outlines a pathway to avoid nationwide lockdowns and then allow
most fully vaccinated travellers to and from New Zealand to travel
much more easily, either without any isolation at all, or with seven
days at home.
Click here to read our full
plan.
National’s plan would also reunite Kiwi families split apart
overseas, allow New Zealanders to travel overseas for business and
pleasure, boost tourism and international education, and end the
outrageous human lottery that is the MIQ debacle.
Our
plan is split into three pillars:
Pillar One:
Invest
It is an outline of ten steps that we need to take urgently to
respond to COVID-19 and to set ourselves up to begin to reconnect to
the world. These steps will help us evolve our response away from
lockdowns and help us reconnect to the world. They give us options and
choices about the future.
The ten steps
are:
- Supercharge the vaccine rollout
- Order vaccine boosters
- Upgrade our contact tracing capability
- Roll out saliva testing at the border and in the community
- Roll out rapid tests for essential workers and in the
community
- Create a dedicated agency, Te Korowai Kōkiri, to manage our
Covid-19 response based in Manukau not Wellington
- Build purpose-built quarantine facilities
- Launch a digital app for vaccination authentication
- Invest in next-generation Covid treatments
- Prepare our hospitals and expand ICU capacity
You can read more on these steps on pages 9-33 of our full
plan here.
Pillar Two: Evolve
It is all about doing what it takes to end our reliance on
economically damaging and socially costly lockdowns. We have set a
milestone of 70-75% of the population aged 12+ being fully vaccinated
as soon as possible.
Modelling shows that once we get to that
level, and including community response measures like those listed in
pillar one, nationwide lockdowns are no longer needed. By itself,
reaching this milestone as quickly as possible will have a
demonstrably positive impact on New Zealand.
- Reach a 70-75% vaccination milestone.
- Pursue elimination without nationwide lockdowns.
You can read more on these steps on pages 34-35 of our full
plan here.
Pillar Three:
Open
The third pillar of the plan is called OPEN. It is our pathway to
reconnect New Zealand to the world. We have set a milestone of at
least 85-90% of the 12+ population being fully vaccinated for this to
happen, although we want to get as high a vaccination rate as
possible. Vaccination coverage in the community of at least 85% plus
community response measures (pillar one) means that COVID can be dealt
with adequately and efficiently by our public health system.
- Reach an 85-90% vaccination milestone, with supplementary DHB and
age-based milestones.
- Change to vigorous suppression strategy.
- Implement a traffic light travel system for travel to New Zealand,
allowing New Zealand to re-open to the world.
You can read more on these steps on pages 36-42 of our full
plan here.
In the National Party, we believe fervently that our future
lies as a small and nimble nation connected to the rest of the world.
Our prosperity in the 21st century will depend on those global
connections – trade, tourism, foreign investment, international
education and more.
Many other developed countries are now
re-opening, and we cannot sit in splendid isolation forever. We must
take the steps necessary to turn our defensive success against COVID
into an ongoing advantage. The sooner we can safely reconnect to the
rest of the world, the better.
New Zealanders have done the
hard yards. They have willingly followed harsh lockdown measures and
other COVID-19 restrictions and, increasingly, they have been
vaccinated for the common good. It’s time for them to be offered a
vision and a plan about how their hard work will pay off. This is what
National’s plan is all about.
Once we reopen to the world, the
future is in the hands of New Zealanders. National will have more to
say in the coming months about the opportunities being a world leader
in COVID management brings. But to get there, we need National’s
plan.
You can also view the launch of our COVID-19 plan
on Facebook here.
Kind regards
Judith Collins
Leader of the National Party
Chris Bishop
Spokesperson for COVID-19
Response
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