Higgs says he was surprised by slowed vaccination rate following switch to green phase

Premier Blaine Higgs is now saying that he wouldn't have lifted all COVID-19 restrictions in July if he'd known that the pace of vaccinations would lag — even though there was plenty of evidence the province was already falling short.

Higgs told CBC's Power and Politics on Thursday that the slowing vaccination rate after his July 30 reopening caught him off guard. 

"Looking back from what I see right now, then absolutely I would have done something differently," Higgs said. "But I didn't know then what I certainly know now."

The premier has said before that the July decision was the right one with the available facts at the time but is now saying more explicitly that the slow vaccine uptake surprised him.

"If I'd have had any insight into that, I'd have made different decisions back at the end of July." 

But there were plenty of indications heading into New Brunswick's green phase that many of the government's vaccination goals were overly optimistic.

When Higgs rolled out the "path to green" on May 27, he set June 7 as the first target for the lifting of some restrictions if 75 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers had had a first shot of the vaccine.