New Zealanders are learning to live with COVID – but does that mean having to pay for protection ourselves?

I’m writing this with a dull ache in my left arm, sore from my third COVID booster. My second was in April when I also got a flu vaccination, which was funded by my employer. The arrival of the fifth wave of COVID in Aotearoa New Zealand, as well as the new variant, prompted me to get my booster sorted.

I should also admit I saw news over the weekend that universal access to COVID vaccinations may come to an end next year. Always keen to get something for nothing, I booked my booster.

It seems I was ahead of the curve.