【澳纽网编译】
Covid-19 NZ: Government brings forward boosters, postpones end to MIQ because of Omicron
政府将施打疫苗加强剂时间提前，以对抗 Covid-19 的 Omicron 变体的威胁。
之前接种疫苗的人需要间隔六个月或更长时间后接种加强疫苗，但现在会将其改为四个月。
这意味着，在政府希望在 2 月底重新开放边境之前，大约 82% 的 12 岁或以上的人将有资格获得接种加强剂。
希普金斯说，新出现的证据表明，与两次疫苗接种相比，加强针对 Omicron 提供了更强的保护。
“虽然两剂可能对 Omicron 的严重疾病有很好的保护作用，但第三剂可能会提供很好的保护，防止 COVID-19 的传播，并减少更严重感染的机会，”希普金斯说。
“ COVID-19 技术咨询小组的建议是，缩短辉瑞疫苗的第二剂和加强剂之间的时间间隔是适当且务实的步骤，并且与其他国家的做法一致。”
“较短的时间框架将从 1 月开始，如果它建议剂量差距可以而且应该进一步减少，我们将继续遵循健康建议。”
原来计划允许完全接种疫苗的新西兰人和居民从 1 月中旬开始从澳大利亚回国，而无需进行管理隔离。
现在已被推迟到 2 月底，这样有更多时间让新西兰人进行接种加强剂——届时约有 82% 的 12 岁以上儿童有资格获得接种加强剂。
政府还宣布将从 1 月 17 日开始为 5 至 11 岁儿童接种疫苗。
这套措施旨在阻止新出现的 Omicron 变种，该变种尚未在新西兰社区中发现。
“所有证据都表明 Omicron 是迄今为止传播性最强的变种，”希普金斯说。
“但专家们仍然不知道它有多严重。因此，尽管它以令人眼花缭乱的速度席卷全球，并且似乎是占主导地位的变种，但它使人们生病的程度以及它对卫生系统的影响尚不完全清楚。”
卫生部首席科学顾问 Ian Town 博士表示，必须尽可能长时间地将 Omincron 拒之门外，因为加强针似乎非常有效地阻止了住院治疗。
那些通过 MIQ 入境的人也会看到其他变化。
MIQ 已从当前的 7 天延长至 10 天。此外，现在只接受在过去 48 小时内进行的行前测试，而不是过去 72 小时。
消息传出之际，新西兰的社区病例继续下降。
周二只有 28 例新的社区病例，并且MIQ没有发现新的 Omicron 病例。
与许多其他国家相比，新西兰的总体疫苗接种率很高，但只有大约二十分之一的 12 岁以上儿童施打了加强针。
现在大约有 360,000 人有资格可以接种加强剂，但只有 228,000 人抓住了这个机会。
The Government will bring forward booster doses to fight the threat of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
It has been restricting booster shots to those who got their vaccine six months or more ago but will shift that to four months.
This will mean about 82 per cent of those aged 12 or above will be eligible for a booster shot before the Governnet looks to reopen the borders at the end of Feburary.
Hipkins said the emerging evidence was that the booster provided far stronger protection from Omicron than the two-shot course.
“While two doses is likely to hold a good degree of protection against severe disease from Omicron, a third dose is likely to offer great protection against transmission of COVID-19 and reducing the chance of more serious infections,” Hipkins said.
“The advice from the COVID-19 Technical Advisory Group is that shortening the period between the second and booster doses of the Pfizer vaccine is an appropriate and pragmatic step and is in line with what other countries are doing.”
“The shorter timeframe will start in January and we’ll continue to follow health advice if it recommends the gap in doses can and should reduce further.”
It was also planning to allow fully vaccinated Kiwis and residents to travel into the country from Australia without going through managed isolation from mid-January.
That has been pushed back until the end of February to give the country more time to give far more Kiwis time to get their booster shot – with about 82 per cent of over-12s eligible for a booster at that point.
The Government has also announced that vaccinations for 5 – 11-year-olds will begin from January 17.
The suite of measures is designed to combat the newly-dominant Omicron variant, which is not yet been found in the community in New Zealand.
“All evidence points to Omicron being the most transmissible variant yet,” Hipkins said.
“But experts still don’t know how severe it is. So while it’s sweeping the globe at a bewildering speed and appears to be the dominant variant, how sick it makes people and the impact it has on health systems is not yet fully understood.”
Ministry of Health chief science advisor Dr Ian Town said it was imperative to keep Omincron out as long as possible as the booster appeared to be very effective at stopping hospitalisation.
Those coming in through MIQ will also see other changes.
MIQ has been extended to 10 days from the current 7. Also, pre-departure tests will now only be accepted if they were taken within the last 48 hours, instead of the last 72.
The news comes as New Zealand’s community cases continue to fall.
There were just 28 new community cases on Tuesday, and no new Omicron cases in managed isolation.
New Zealand’s overall vaccine rate is high compared to many peer nations but only about one in 20 over-12s has had a booster shot.
Around 360,000 people are now eligible for their booster, but just 228,000 have taken up the opportunity.
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