New Zealand government talks to KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell to offer people COVID-19 vaccines when they shop for meals

New Zealand is in talks with fast food brands to bring people vaccines with their meals.
The government is in talks with KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, an Auckland councilor said.

Auckland ended a severe lockdown on Tuesday and the country wants to avoid future lockdowns.

The New Zealand government is in talks with fast food brands like KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut to offer customers COVID-19 vaccines with their meals.

Auckland, the country’s largest city, eased a strict five-week lockdown on Tuesday, allowing fast food restaurants to restart delivery services and social distance sales. Last month, the whole country entered a full national lockdown over a case of COVID-19.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wants to increase the country’s vaccination rate, and the government is considering partnering with fast food brands to achieve this.

Auckland counselor Josephine Bartley on Wednesday tweeted that Restaurant Brands, the company behind KFC, Pizza Hut, Carl’s Jr. and Taco Bell in New Zealand, was talking to the government about a partnership.

“We want to make sure we get to where the people are,” Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson told Radio New Zealand on Thursday.

“We know that a lot of Aucklanders will be very excited to get their take-out solution and could we use that possibility?”

Robertson said, however, that there could be problems getting people to wait 20 minutes after their vaccination due to time constraints from outlets driving.

Ardern said on Thursday she hoped to drop strict lockdown measures for good and wanted a 90% vaccination rate. As of Thursday, 40% of people were fully vaccinated and 75% had received a dose, according to government statistics.

Demand for fast food restaurants has been high in Auckland since the lockdown restrictions were reintroduced last month, prompting some people to try and refuel by whatever means necessary.

New Zealand police officers on Sunday arrested two men who they said attempted to enter Auckland with a car “full” of smuggled KFC chicken, French fries and ten jars of coleslaw. Police said they also found $ 70,000 in cash inside the car.

Earlier in September, police charged a 20-year-old man who they said snuck out of Auckland to buy McDonald’s.

Queues at some Auckland branches of McDonald’s, KFC and Taco Bell started hours before they reopened, Stuff.co.nz reported. A McDonald’s drive-thru described seeing around 40 cars already waiting for it to open, and a KFC customer slept in his car, the store reported.