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At 231 days into its vaccine rollout, Australia still lags behind many OECD nations. More than 50 countries have administered at least one dose to a greater share of their populations. But many of them have much smaller populations than Australia. As of 8 October 68.2% of Australians had had at least one dose.
Australia also trails other powerful nations on its share of the fully vaccinated population. The United States, Germany and Israel all have higher fully vaccinated populations – as do almost 30 other OECD countries, according to the latest data available.
Read more of Josh Nicholas’ report here: Australia still lags many other countries on vaccine rollout – but it’s catching up fast
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Drakeford: Welsh Covid passes will ‘help’ hospitality venues stay open during autumn and winter
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Reopening New Zealand amid Covid outbreak would be ‘modern genocide’, Māori party warns
New Zealand’s government would be committing “modern genocide” by reopening the country as Covid spreads among under-vaccinated indigenous people, the Māori party has said.
The comments come as the country is struggling to contain its current Delta outbreak, with 95 cases reported over the weekend, and another 35 on Monday. Most current cases and hospitalisations are among Māori and Pacific New Zealanders, despite the fact those groups make up less than 30% of the total population. New Zealand is also in the process of pivoting away from its longstanding elimination strategy.
“Māori are now presenting over half of daily cases. We need to be placed back into a level that will break the circuit of this outbreak for Māori,” co-leader of the Māori party Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said on Monday.
“If the government is prepared to open the borders as soon as our country is 90% vaccinated, they are willingly holding Māori up to be the sacrificial lambs. It is a modern form genocide.”
Read the full story here: