Auckland has moved to alert level 3 lockdown for seven days, following an announcement from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern late last night. The rest of the country has transitioned to level 2 for a week.It comes after a new Covid-19…

The aunt of an Auckland teen shot in the face believes her “gentle nephew” was fired at from a car while playing basketball with other kids.The aunt has taken to social media to provide an account of the shooting in Northcote about…

United States health advisers endorsed a one-dose COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson on Friday, putting the nation on the cusp of adding an easier-to-use option to fight the pandemic.

The acting head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a statement that the agency will move quickly to follow the recommendation, which would make J&J’s shot the third vaccine authorised for emergency use in the US Vaccinations are picking up speed, but new supplies are urgently needed to stay ahead of a mutating virus that has killed more than 500,000 Americans.

After daylong discussions, the FDA panellists voted unanimously that the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks for adults. Once FDA issues a final decision, shipments of a few million doses could begin as early as Monday.

READ MORE: 'Too soon' for states to take over federal government's vaccine responsibility

“There’s an urgency to get this done,” said Dr Jay Portnoy of Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. “We’re in a race between the virus mutating — and new variants coming out that can cause further disease — and stopping it.”

More than 47 million people in the US, or 14 per cent of the population, have received at least one shot of the two-dose vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, which FDA authorized in December. But the pace of vaccinations has been strained by limited supplies and delays due to winter storms.

While early J&J supplies will be small, the company has said it can deliver 20 million doses by the end of March and a total of 100 million by the end of June.

J&J’s vaccine protects against the worst effects of COVID-19 after one shot, and it can be stored up to three months at refrigerator temperatures, making it easier to handle than the previous vaccines, which must be frozen.

One challenge in rolling out the new vaccine will be explaining how protective the J&J shot is after the astounding success of the first US vaccines.

“It’s important that people do not think that one vaccine is better than another,” said panellist Dr. Cody Meissner of Tufts University.

READ MORE: Pfizer vaccine doesn't need deep freeze, say US officials

The two-dose Pfizer and Moderna shots were found to be about 95 per cent effective against symptomatic COVID-19. The numbers from J&J’s study are not that high, but it's not an apples-to-apples comparison.

One dose of the J&J vaccine was 85 per cent protective against the most severe COVID-19. After adding in moderate cases, the total effectiveness dropped to about 66 per cent.

Some experts fear that lower number could feed public perceptions that J&J’s shot is a “second-tier vaccine.” But the difference in protection reflects when and where J&J conducted its studies.

J&J’s vaccine was tested in the US, Latin America and South Africa at a time when more contagious mutated versions of the virus were spreading. That wasn’t the case last fall, when Pfizer and Moderna were wrapping up testing, and it’s not clear if their numbers would hold against the most worrisome of those variants.

Importantly, the FDA reported this week that, just like its predecessors, the J&J shot offers strong protection against the worst outcomes, hospitalisation and death.

While J&J is seeking FDA authorisation for its single-dose version, the company is also studying whether a second dose boosts protection.

Panel member Dr Paul Offit warned that launching a two-dose version of the vaccine down the road might cause problems.

“You can see where that would be confusing to people thinking, ’Maybe I didn’t get what I needed,’” said Dr Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “It’s a messaging challenge.”

J&J representatives said they chose to begin with the single shot because the World Health Organisation and other experts agreed it would be a faster, more effective tool in an emergency.

READ MORE: NSW vaccine rollout 'running smoothly' as restrictions ease

Cases and hospitalisations have fallen dramatically since their January peak that followed the winter holidays. But public health officials warned that those gains may be stalling as more variants take root in the US.

“We may be done with the virus, but clearly the virus is not done with us,” Centre for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr Rochelle Walensky, said during a White House briefing Friday. She noted that new COVID-19 cases have increased over the past few days.

While it’s too early to tell if the trend will last, Dr Walensky said adding a third vaccine “will help protect more people faster.” More vaccines are in the pipeline.

On Sunday, a CDC panel is expected to meet to recommend how to best prioritise use of the J&J vaccine.

Other parts of the world already are facing which-is-best challenges. Italy’s main teachers’ union recently protested when the government decided to reserve Pfizer and Moderna shots for the elderly and designate AstraZeneca’s vaccine for younger, at-risk workers.

AstraZeneca’s vaccine was deemed to be about 70 per cent effective in testing. Canada became the latest country Friday to allow use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine.

Some NZ Post shops in Auckland are still operating under alert level 2 Covid rules despite Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern moving the whole country to alert level 1. A medical expert says it shows an “erosion of confidence” in the…

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham has called for a safer and more respectful political debate after South Australian Liberal MP Nicolle Flint revealed her intention to quit politics.

Ms Flint announced she won't recontest the next election in an email sent to her constituents last night.

No reason was given by Ms Flint as to what prompted the surprise move out of politics, but speaking today Mr Birmingham implied that ongoing "harassment and bullying" faced by Ms Flint led to her decision not to face another election campaign.

READ MORE: Liberal MP Nicolle Flint quits federal politics

"She faced a very bitter election campaign last time, that she saw appalling behaviour against her," he said.

A fellow South Australian, Mr Birmingham said he and the Prime Minister had worked to support Ms Flint during the harassment, "unfortunately, we can't control the actions of the political campaigners".

The Liberal MP has had her offices repeatedly vandalism with offensive language and has been harassed on social media by GetUp, Extinction Rebellion and other left-wing groups, Mr Birmingham said.

In one incident during the bitter 2019 election campaign which Ms Flint later described as "the scariest of her life", the police became involved after she was stalked and photographed by a man and had her office vandalised with graffiti calling her a "prostitute".

As recently as earlier this year, Ms Flint's South Australian offices were again graffitied.

"I think that the Extinction Rebellion activists and others who have continued attacks on Nicolle and others should have thought about the consequences of their actions," Mr Birmingham said.

In announcing her plans to leave politics, Ms Flint said she plans to continue advocating for the people of Boothby until the next election and will support her successor.

"I will work to support the candidate who is pre-selected by our Liberal party members to ensure we return a Liberal government, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, to guide our nation to out of the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond," she wrote.

Ms Flint was first elected to Government in 2016 for the seat of Boothby and just scraped through with re-elected in 2019.

By RNZ The Crown has apologised and signed a $30 million settlement with Ngāti Maru, after more than 150 years since the raupatu (confiscation) of half of the iwi’s land.The iwi rohe (tribal area) of Ngāti Maru stretches…

More human remains have washed up on the southern NSW coastline, days after the foot of missing Sydney woman Melissa Caddick was found by campers on the South Coast.

Police were called to Mollymook Beach, 60km south of Nowra, late last night after members of the public discovered the remains.

There is currently no indication as to whether the remains belong to Ms Caddick but DNA testing is underway.

READ MORE: How Melissa's remains drifted so far from Sydney

The beach is over 200km north of Bournda National Park near Tathra, where three teenagers found a shoe containing the remains of a human foot on Sunday.

Those remains were yesterday confirmed as belonging to Ms Caddick.

Officers identified the shoe as being the same to a pair Ms Caddick was wearing during raids on her home prior to her disappearance.

If confirmed as belonging to Ms Caddick, the latest discovery would add more weight to the theory that the Sydney businesswoman's remains were carried south down the coastline from Sydney by drifting currents.

READ MORE: The timeline of Melissa Caddick's alleged frauds and disappearance

Offshore drift modelling found that a body which entered the water near Ms Caddick's home in Dover Heights in Sydney may have drifted to the South Coast over time.

Ms Caddick, 49, disappeared on November 12 last year after leaving her home for what her husband believed was a morning run at 5.30am.

She and her family lived in affluent Dover Heights in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

She had been under investigation for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme, using millions from investors to make lavish personal purchases.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) raided her home as part of an ASIC investigation the day before she disappeared.

What we know about Melissa Caddick

• Suspected of stealing "tens of millions" from investors
• Spent hundreds of thousands on designer label clothes and ski trips
• AFP raided Dover Heights home as part of ASIC investigation
• Ms Caddick disappeared on November 12, soon after raid
• Left home without wallet or keys, had made zero contact with anyone since
• Remains found on NSW South Coast beach on February 21

Two motorbike riders have died within minutes of each other in separate crashes.The first rider died at the scene when they crashed southwest of Warkworth on West Coast Rd near Makarau about 1.30pm, police said.Diversions were…

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By RNZ More than 200 children have completed managed isolation alone since December.Most of them are aged 14 to 17, and completed their two weeks in a dedicated facility in Auckland.”Children and young people under the age…