“Given the risks in the world around us and the uncertainty of the global rollout of the vaccine, we can expect our borders to be affected for most of this year,” Ardern said at a news conference.
To get the journey back on track, the authorities needed confidence that the vaccinees are not passing on Covid-19 to others, which is not yet known, or that enough people need to be vaccinated for people to enter New Zealand safely.
But both options will take time, she said.
“In the meantime, we will continue to pursue travel bubbles with Australia and the Pacific, but the rest of the world is simply too much of a risk to our health and economy to risk at this stage.”
The recent community case, in a woman who returned to New Zealand on December 30 and tested positive for the South African strain of the virus after leaving a mandatory two-week quarantine, prompted Australia to immediately file a travel bubble with New Zealand. Zeeland is suspended for 72 hours.
Ardern said the country’s drug regulator Medsafe was in the process of granting preliminary approval for the Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE vaccine.
The first vaccines should arrive in New Zealand by the end of the first quarter, but the government wanted everything to be there in case of an earlier arrival.
A hard lockdown and geographic isolation helped the country of 5 million residents virtually eliminate the new coronavirus within its borders.
New Zealand reported 2 new cases of Covid-19 in its managed isolation facilities on Tuesday and no new community cases. The country has 65 active cases, a total of 1,934 confirmed cases and 25 deaths.