We've been watching you have packed public spaces for 18 months now, while we've been unable to gather in groups of more than 4. I think most people saw NZ as successful enough to keep the lid on until you get everyone vaccinated.
Frankly, it seems like with sufficient border testing and vaccinations for people traveling abroad (at least), you should be able to maintain zero-community transmission.
> if they open up well before NZ which could make things very awkward if we're still fumbling around with an elimination strategy.
Is NZ not open now? I hear about a couple random 3 week lockdowns, but other than that it seems pretty normal.
> healthcare workers, the latter we're seeing severe shortages of even with no covid cases.
That's not unique in NZ. The US and UK, in spite of having very different COVID strategies from NZ, also have shortages of healthcare workers.