One week\u00a0after Canada adopted mandatory vaccination rules<\/a>\u00a0for federal workers and travelers, New Zealand has announced its own vaccine mandates for most teachers and health care workers.<\/p>\n Per NZ’s Liberal-led government,\u00a0doctors, nurses and other health-care workers must be fully vaxxed by Dec. 1,<\/strong>\u00a0while everyone working in education who has contact with students must be vaccinated by Jan. 1.<\/strong><\/p>\n “We can\u2019t leave anything to chance so that’s why we are making it mandatory,”\u00a0<\/strong>said COVID Response Minister Chris Hipkins, who is also the country’s education minister.<\/p>\n “Vaccination remains our strongest and most effective tool to protect against infection and disease,”<\/strong>\u00a0Hipkins said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n New Zealand briefly enjoyed COVID-free status after the initial global outbreak, but the country’s “drawbridge” strategy was unable to keep out the delta variant, imposing a lockdown in Auckland, the country’s largest city after confirming just a single case. As cases spread despite the tightening restrictions, the government was forced to finally abandon its “COVIDZero” strategy.<\/p>\n New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern said the highly transmissible delta variant had proved a “game-changer” that can’t be easily eliminated.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/NZ2.jpg?itok=Fcn4ObZw\")
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