9. Question No. 9—Prime MinisterDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT) to the Prime MinisterQuestion No. 9—Prime Minister9. DAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all of her statements and actions?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Yes. In particular I stand by my statement that The most important thing people can do to prevent themselves children and vulnerable people getting COVID is to get vaccinated. However it's important we have medicines to help those who pick up the virus to avoid having to go to hospital." That's why I stand by the Government's decision to ring-fence funding for the purchase of COVID-19 therapeutics and I welcome the decision by Pharmac to enter an agreement to purchase 60000 doses of an antiviral molnupiravir. Interim evidence from clinical trials suggests this drug may halve hospitalisations and deaths from COVID-19 and could play a central role in the treatment of mild to moderate cases of the disease in the future. As we evolve in our response to the Delta variant I'm pleased that we have one more highly promising tool to add to our tool kit.David Seymour: Does she stand by her statement "We have looked at all of the evidence talked to experts looked at modelling for our situation and set a target of 90 percent fully vaccinated for each DHB in New Zealand."; and if so has she received any modelling on what day that 90 percent target in every DHB is likely to be reached?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: To answer the first half the question yes. The second half of the question—it's obviously easier to make predictions based on those DHBs that are closer to the 90 percent on their first dose. So obviously with Auckland there's been some suggestion of course that it could be late November early December. As I just said today on Friday we were 16000 doses away from hitting the 90 percent for first dose. That's now down to 11000. So as you can see Auckland could hit that first dose target as early as this week. And then obviously if you follow on with the three weeks for the second dose then you can see the likely time frames.David Seymour: Why didn't the Prime Minister answer the question about the last DHBs to reach 90 percent full vaccination since her policy requires the whole country to wait for the last not the first?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Because the member misunderstands. We have of course said that for Auckland they will shift once those three DHBs—and that's because that's possible. And that was very clear in the announcement: Auckland will go first once the three DHBs within Auckland reach that target and that's because there's a hard border around Auckland that enables that. The second reason is as I've already outlined for other DHBs it's not as easy to make a prediction at this stage but of course you can make some assumptions that notifying that the use of things like vaccine certificates may incentivise extra uptake. The other point that I would make is for those other parts of the country outside the Waikato region—obviously they're in level 2 at the moment; very different circumstances than what Auckland is living with. But my very clear message to them would be if we do have cases in those communities while we have lower vaccination rates we will still have to use more blanket restrictions. We want to be able to use the traffic light framework. The safest way to do that is to get vaccination rates up to the targets that have been set.David Seymour: Is there any limit on how far past 1 December the Prime Minister is prepared to keep Auckland or the rest of New Zealand locked down; and if so how long is it?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Again I would highlight to the member that the majority of the country is actually in level 2. Of course we have a very specific eye on trying to move Auckland as quickly as possible and they obviously are within the range of being able to do that you know within possibly even three to four weeks. Again we want to make sure that we're providing all the support we can to support the uptake of vaccination there and in the meantime we have also kept on the table the step-downs for Auckland as well so they're not totally reliant on that shift. The final thing I'd say is Cabinet has said we'll have a check-in on 29 November to assess the progress of both the Auckland DHBs if they have not already reached the target but also the rest of the country.David Seymour: Has she received any modelling on the level of vaccination required in the community before it is safe for managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) to be shortened or skipped altogether in favour of home isolation for pre-departure tested fully vaccinated Kiwis returning from overseas?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The modelling hasn't tended to get into that level of specificity but what you will have seen from the modelling that's been released to date is that they all assume some level of check at the border that goes beyond just a pre-departure test. So even Te Pūnaha Matatini's modelling does include ongoing restrictions at the border to try and prevent the ongoing seeding of cases in the community even when there are cases already within that community. And that's just to stop the prevalence or the growth of outbreaks. We have already said though that as part of the reconnecting New Zealand work we would move to shortened MIQ we would move to self-isolation. We are trialling self-isolation over the coming weeks and that enables us to work through some of the logistical challenges of ensuring that people are able to safely move from the airport to their homes without putting others at risk but with a view to being able to use that tool more widely in the future.David Seymour: Has she had any communications about travelling to Europe herself in the coming weeks; and does she anticipate she'll be able to take advantage of a shortened MIQ stay or home isolate by the time she returns?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The decisions that we make on MIQ are made for the safety of New Zealand and for the context of all New Zealanders not for any one individual."