Box of stickers for vaccinated people (unopened)

This box of stickers was part of the delivery of the Covid-19 vaccination programme in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2021. They were given to people after their vaccinations as a 'badge of honour' and to promote the programme.

There were two versions of stickers to choose from, with illustrations by artists Jessica Thompson Carr (aka Māori Mermaid) and Ruby Jones who had been commissioned by the government to create art which illustrated what people would be looking forward to after being vaccinated. One of the stickers features an image of a young person embracing two elders (by Carr), and the other image features a pair of people on top of the globe with Aotearoa at its heart (by Jones). These images have also appeared in poster form.

Illustration is a medium which can get to the heart of a message in ways that a photograph or plain text may not capture. Jones observes that illustration is ‘particularly effective in being able to portray ideas which can be challenging or scary, in a positive and/or beautiful way’ (Chemko, 11 May 2021).

Background

A new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) spread quickly around the world in early 2020. It caused the serious disease of Covid-19 which WHO declared to be a pandemic on 11 March 2020. Covid-19 has since killed over 5 million people.

New Zealand experienced its first national lockdown in March-April 2020 and has tightly controlled its borders ever since. Contact tracing, hand sanitising, wearing face masks, and now vaccination, are key strategies in the goal to live the virus and open up the country.

Vaccines

The first viable vaccines start emerging overseas in November 2020. New Zealand chose an mRNA vaccine made by Pfizer called Pfizer-BioNTech, and began administering it on 19 February 2021, initially to vaccinators.

The population was divided into groups for the vaccination roll-out. Group 1 consisted of border and managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) workers, and was vaccinated first. Group 2 included essential workers, high-risk frontline workers, and people living in high-risk places. Group 3 included people aged 65 and over, disabled people, and people with relevant underlying health conditions. Group 4 included everyone else aged 12 and over.

The initial roll-out was considered slow, and there was increasing concern that New Zealand may not be vaccinated enough to cope with future outbreaks of Covid-19, particularly virulent new strains such as the Delta variant, which surfaced in New Zealand in August 2021. New Zealand experienced its second national level 4 lockdown because of Delta from 17-31 August 2021. With most Delta cases in Auckland, the city remained in level 4 until 21 September 2021, then level 3, with a gradual easing on 10 November 2021. Waikato and Northland have both faced periods in alert level 3, while the rest of the country has remained in level 2.

Several government and community initiatives (including the successful Vaxathon on 16 October 2021) have seen the majority of New Zealanders vaccinated.

References:

Chemko, A. (11 May 2021). The artists behind Aotearoa's Covid-19 vaccination campaign. Stuff (https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/125068461/the-artists-behind-aotearoas-covid19-vaccination-campaign)

Ministry of Health (8 March 2021, version 1). Covid-19 Vaccine: Communications and Engagement Approach (covid-19_vaccine_communications_and_engagement_approach_v1.pdf, www.health.govt.nz).