Kerre Woodham: There are lessons to learn from the Covid response

The first phase of the Royal Commission of inquiry into the COVID-19 response will be handed to the Government today. There’s one of finding I know is going to really resonate with a section of this listening audience and members of the wider community. The head of the inquiry, Professor Tony Blakely, says vaccine mandates caused huge pain to a “substantial minority” during the pandemic, and the government should consider whether their benefits, that is the vaccine mandates, outweighed their harms. The report found while the mandates during the later stages of the pandemic were supported by most New Zealanders, the damage to social cohesion needed to be considered when planning for future outbreaks as he told Mike Hosking on the Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning.  

“I think a lot of us around the world are learning that those mandates might have gone a bit too far, for a bit too long and it's a very delicate balance. In a future pandemic, which is what we're really focused on now, you can't rule out the need for doing mandatory measures again because the virus might be two/four times as fatal, and two or four times as infectious, and you just need to do everything. However, if we had something like Covid again, I think all of us are saying that if we prepare better, have better contact tracing, then we'll need less of the mandatory measures like lockdowns and vaccine mandates.” 

Absolutely. I heard Mike too say this morning that inquiries and reports aren't really worth the paper they're written on. That enormous amounts of energy are expended on them, and then they're delivered behind closed doors, and that's that. He said the response to a crisis will depend on whomever you have in government – if they're halfway capable, you get a halfway capable response. If they're not, you don't. But I disagree. I think you can learn from what you've done right and what you've done wrong, and I think the way the government handled the mandates, among other things, was poor.  

I mean, first of all, not getting the vaccines when they did so we're behind the eight-ball. And I would have put anything, anywhere, up any orifice, to get the hell out of lockdown. The frustration and fury felt by many, mainly North Islanders, over following increasingly more ludicrous rules as we struggled to get to some arbitrary vaccination target is still ongoing. As is the fury felt by the significant minority of New Zealanders who lost their jobs and their livelihoods, because they refused to get vaccinated – and this is despite Jacinda Ardern saying in September of 2020 there would be no forced vaccinations and there weren't, and those who chose to opt out, more importantly, would not face sanctions. So that's what she said, and then it all changed again.  

So people chose not to get vaccinated for many, many reasons. Do not lump them all into one basket. I mean, there were some basket cases in amongst them, the people who had the tin foil on top of their heads, but there were also people who were extremely genuine in their motivations and their reasons for not getting vaccinated. Think Novak Djokovic, sort of as the poster boy for that - very, very careful about what they put into their bodies and why they choose to put into their bodies what they do. I mean, these were not the lovies who jumped on the bandwagon who were pumped full of Botox and filler and the like. There are many, many reasons why people chose not to get vaccinated, and initially they were assured by the Prime Minister they wouldn't have to and there would be no sanctions if they chose not to.  

So I think Professor Blakely is right, that you can learn from the past and you can learn how to manage it, because the fallout is ongoing. Every time we get something about the rising colorectal cancer - well, yes, that'll be the vax. So, you've got people who don't believe in science. You've got

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Kerrywood of Mornings podcast from News
Talks d B.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
So.

Speaker 3 (00:12):
The first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into
the COVID nineteen response will be handed to the government
today and one of the findings, I know is going
to really resonate with a section certainly of this listening
audience and members of the wider community. The head of
the inquiry, Professor Tony Blakeley, says vaccine mandates caused huge
pain to a substantial minority during the pandemic and the

(00:36):
government should consider whether they're benefits. That is, the vaccine
mandates outweighed their harms. The report found, while the mandates
during the later stages of the pandemic were supported by
most New Zealanders, had found that the damage to social
cohesion needed to be considered when planning for future outbreaks.

(00:56):
As he told Mike Cosking on the Mike Costing Breakfast
this morning, I think for a lot of.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Us around the world are learning that those mandates might
have gone a bit too far for a bit too long.
It's a very delicate balance and a future pandemic, which
is what we're really focused on now. You can't rule
out the need for doing mandatory measures again, because the
virus might be two four times as fatal and two
or four times infectious and you just need to do everything. However,

(01:21):
if we had something like COVID again, I think all
of us are saying that if we prepare BEW to
have better contact tracing them, will need less of the
mandatory measures like lockdowns and taxing manner.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Absolutely sorry Mike, cutting you off there, but we've got
what we needed out of Professor Blakely. I heard Mike
two say this morning that inquiries aren't and reports aren't
really worth the paper they're written on, that enormous amounts
of energy are expended on them and then they're delivered
behind closed doors, and that's that. He said. The response
to a crisis will depend on whomever you have in government.

(01:55):
If they're halfway capable, you get a half way capable response.
If they're not, you don't. But I disagree. I think
you can learn from what you've done right and what
you've done wrong, and I think the way the government
handled the mandates was, among other things, was poor. I mean,
first of all, you know, not getting the vaccines when

(02:17):
they did, so we're behind the eight ball, and I
would have put anything anywhere, are any orifice to get
the hell out of lockdown. And the frustration and fury
felt by many, mainly North Islanders, over following increasingly more
ludicrous rules as we struggled to get to some arbitrary

(02:38):
vaccination target is still ongoing, as is the fury felt
by the significant minority of New Zealanders who lost their
jobs and their livelihoods because they refused to get vaccinated.
And this is despite Jacinda Adourn saying in September of
twenty twenty there would be no forced vaccinations and there

(02:59):
weren't and those who chose to opt out, more importantly,
would not face sanctions. So that's what she said, and
then it all changed again. So people chose not to
get vaccinated for many, many reasons, do not all lump
them into one basket. I mean there were some basket cases,

(03:20):
and amongst them, you know, the people who had the
tinfoil on top of their heads. But there were also
people who were extremely genuine and their motivations and their
reasons for not getting vaccinated. I mean think no Vak
Djokovic sort of as the poster boy for that very
very careful about what they put into their bodies and

(03:41):
why they choose to put into their bodies what they do.
I mean, these were not the lovies who jumped on
the bandwagon, who were pumped full of botox and filler
and the like thing. Yeah, no, it's not really for me. No,
So there are many, many reasons why people chose not
to get vaccinated, and initially they were assured by the
Prime Minister they wouldn't have to and there would be

(04:03):
no sanctions if they chose not to. So I think
Professor Blakeley is right that you can learn from the
past and you can learn how to manage it because
the fallout is ongoing every time. Every time we get
something about the rise and colorectal cancer, well, yes, that'll

(04:24):
be the vax So you've got people who don't believe
in science. You've got vaccine fatigue, you know. Now we've
got a rise in hooping cough because people are just
sick to death of the word vaccination. They don't trust vaccinations,
they don't trust governments telling you to get vaccinated because

(04:47):
of what has happened. And this is the Western world over,
not just in New Zealand. So the fallout from not
managing the vaccination program is going to be felt for
years to come. You know, they did say in this
first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry that you know,

(05:09):
some aspects were handled well the first six weeks great.
After that the wheels fell off well, I think he
said the wheels will wobbly. I'd go further and say
the the wheels fell completely and utterly off. So, you know,
I think we can learn, and I think we should learn,
and I think there are lessons that can be learned

(05:30):
and the first phase of the inquiry has proven that.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
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