"The Hui" is a Maori-oriented news and current affairs program.
Forbes and Ardern discussed how the government can best reach out to the country's indigenous Maori population, whose vaccination rate is way behind the national average and the vaccination rate of New Zealanders of non-Maori descent.
"There's been a huge focus on making sure we're reaching everyone, wherever they are in the country and ensuring that we're overcoming those barriers," said Ardern. "But in my mind, so long as there are people that are eligible that haven't been vaccinated, we've got work to do."
"You know, I don't think I'll ever be satisfied so long as there's someone who is eligible and hasn't been [vaccinated]," she continued. "That's why I've said there's not going to be an end point to this vaccination program." (Related: New Zealand Prime Minister proudly admits she helped create two classes of people, while holding human rights hostage.)
Ardern begins distribution of endless booster vaccines
New Zealand has a full vaccination rate of around 75 percent and a partial vaccination rate of 80 percent. While Ardern's government is focusing on raising the vaccination rate of the Maori community, it has also begun distributing booster vaccines.
COVID-19 booster doses became available to all New Zealanders aged 18 and above at the end of November. As of press time, these booster shots have reached just 2.9 percent of the eligible population.
According to Minister for COVID-19 Response Chris Hipkins, more than 450,000 New Zealanders out of a total population of around 5.1 million will be eligible to receive booster doses by the end of the year.
"And while the booster program is an important next step in our pandemic response, increasing the vaccination coverage of first and second doses, particularly for Maori, [Pacific Islander] and disabled communities, remains our number one priority in our nationwide vaccination rollout."
Hipkins and other health officials also used the threat of the new post-vaccine omicron variant to fearmonger about getting vaccinated. "Please encourage your [extended family] and friends to get vaccinated," said Hipkins.
Ardern reiterated this point during her interview with Forbes.
"Once we've… obviously we're rolling out boosters now, so we've got another wave of people that we need to make sure we're protecting again," said Ardern. "So, those who were vaccinated six months ago, we really need them to come back or we need to go to them," she said.
"People who fail to continually get vaccinated will face the same fate as those who have continued to resist compulsory shots. They'll be out of work, face social ostracization and God only knows what else in the future," wrote journalist and political commentator Paul Joseph Watson for Summit News.
"Enjoy your lifetime booster shots and enjoy not being able to travel, visit a restaurant or eventually go in a shop if you miss out on just one," Watson continued. "Remember, if you don't take the Pfizer jab for life, you'll never be 'fully vaccinated.' It truly never ends."
New Zealand has yet to formulate policies regarding succeeding booster vaccine doses. It is likely that the government will wait until enough of its population has received the booster doses before announcing that a fourth dose is "necessary."
Learn more about how the mass vaccination programs of countries around the world by reading the latest articles at Vaccines.news.
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