New Zealand dispenses record number of jabs at ‘Vaxathon’

By NICK PERRY
Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand health care workers have administered a record number of vaccine jabs as the nation holds a festival aimed at getting more people inoculated against the coronavirus. Musicians, sports stars and celebrities pitched in for the “Vaxathon” event Saturday which was broadcast on television and online for eight hours straight. By late afternoon, more than 120,000 people had gotten shots, eclipsing the daily record of 93,000 set in August. The festival was held as New Zealand faces its biggest threat since the pandemic began, with an outbreak of the delta variant spreading through the largest city of Auckland and beyond.