"The overreliance on lockdowns was driven by lack of proper public health infrastructure." Surely this is the whole reason for the response: our hospitals would be overwhelmed and totally unable to cope resulting in huge loss of life, which was avoided. Looks like nothing much has changed in the public health area under the current government. In fact it is worse and less likely to be able to deal with a pandemic in the future.
"In the early days of the lockdown the Government moved quickly to roll out a suite of measures to prevent mass unemployment and a crippling economic depression as most of the nation’s businesses were forced to close."
Mass unemployment was completely unnecessary. It put everyone into home detention when the correct response for centuries has been isolate the sick and vulnerable, and let the rest of the community get on with it.
It has forever tainted my trust in government, and socialist governments in particular.
At the end of the day the govt was dealing with a huge health problem the scale of which had never been seen before. Sure in hindsight mistakes were made and people made money unfairly but we were kept alive. We cannot blame we can learn.
This government has ensured that our health system as we have known it is slowly being destroyed. To achieve this, they have appointed Lester Levy to be in charge. If you want to understand this look what he did to the CDHB.
I agree that the process of the inquiry should have been more public. But this one does cover a lot of bases, and could have been altered to become more comprehensive. The second one has obviously been set up so that the results will be released in election year and (the current govt hopes) will make Labour look bad. The previous govt wanted to look good, and the new govt just wants to make them look bad.
A commission to explore the countries response to the pandamic is a necessary part in preparing for the next. It is clear that financial aid didn't always get to those in most need of support. Also, in my view, the way teachers were effectively thrown under the bus by having to return to work, long before vaccination levels could reasonably have justified such a move, illustrated a weak link in enforcing further regional or national lockdowns. There are many instances where the interests of the many outweigh the rights of the individual. No one was forced to accept vaccination, but there were consequences to protect the greater interests of the many for those who refused. What I have found most revealing at the time, and subsequently has been the lack of proper respect our society affords in both monetary and conditions of service to service industry workers, without whose diligence to provide seamless access to the necessities of life during the pandemic, society would have completely collapsed.
The efficacy and safety of the untested technology was and is an issue. Whilst deaths from Covid itself were low, the ongoing aftermath of adverse effects is very evident. As a nation we need to 'redress' this. Informed consent, not mandated, and real scientific evidence in future.
You forgot to mention that the Ardern approach also caused death. Some people
‘S lives were ruined so badly they where driven into such despair annd committed suicide after her extreme policies, not helped by her call to all New Zealanders to shun, report and avoid those who “stood against” her totalitarian approach and refused to take the Covid Vaccine. I’ve seen the damage she did in this way firsthand. My nephew was one of these people.
Interesting. One of my recent realisations was the pace at which things moved. It all sounds easy In hindsight that mandates, MOQ etc were all problematic but things like MIQ arrived after people failed to follow instructions with self isolation etc. most importantly was the lack of hospital infrastructure for people who needed oxygen / icu level care. Nz has one of the lowest per capita ratio of icu beds in the world. As for the financial supports, biggest criticism I have is that a LOT of companies ended up not needing the money, but they didn’t pay it back. Will see how much of a circus public sessions will be soon enough… https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2023-10/pr-timeline-significant-events-activities.pdf
There is stark evidence from around the world both during the pandemic and in its aftermath that the politicisation of Covid responses, while inevitable, will not bring about the kind of policy adaptations that will prepare countries for future pandemics and major public health threats. This is particularly true of Western countries in which individual rights are front of mind for a significant portion of the population when balanced against community or society wide rights. It is clear in the NZ case that the Government of the Day sank under the constant weight of decision making and the uncertainties of information about the virus itself, about the effectiveness of mask wearing in a community context and the repeated mutations occurring overseas.
This against a background of a health system without enough ICU beds and ventilators to cope with a significant rush in critically sick patients, a scenario vividly reported out of the north of Italy in the initial stages of the pandemic. Given also the media parsed every decision, reporting conflicting information about many aspects of the pandemic and government responses the Ardern government retreated into its own silo, frozen by the enormity of the social, medical and perceived economic threats the country faced.
In looking back through the rear view measure we should also not forget a number of other sources of pressure. The calls from the business community for wage support and the differing positions of the opposition parties which chameleon like morphed as discontent bubbled up over mandates and lockdowns.
So I personally look for a concrete action plan being put before the public and going through a select committee process so that public input is open and transparent. I note in some of the responses on this platform and even more so on sites like X a vindictive desire to punish and blame. My family, as with others suffered immensely during the pandemic, a grandchild going through treatment for an aggressive blood cancer, children separated from their parents, a child with severe mental health issues and children out of school for longer than many others because of there sibling’s life and death health challenges. However, the focus should be about learning from mistakes and looking to the future, not head hunting or political point scoring in its social media posts of the last week.
The age of consent to vaccination in New Zealand was lowered to TWELVE YEARS from SIXTEEN, without public discussion during the COVID emergency .
School boundaries shield the peer pressure, medical monopoly and advertising from public and parental scrutiny.
This will bring an enormous price as the young people mature and exhibit the negative effects from the shafting. Sudden unexplained death, infertility, cardiac problems, malfunctioning kidney symptoms, neurological problems and immune function have already become very evident in those who had the PFIZER shots.
This four year drop in age to only twelve must be rescinded for our childrens safety.
Absolutely, thanks for pointing this out. And pregnant mothers and babies were urged to get vaccinated when there were NO safety tests for either group...
Thanks for this balanced report on how the initial Royal Commission inquiry panned out. I didn't have the time or inclination to examine the findings in detail, mostly because of the second more relevant inquiry starting soon, so it was good to be able to read a concise summation.
When will we see an article that quantifies the positive and negative effects of the response to the novel disease SARS-CoV-2?
The focus seems to be solely on “bad Jacinda” rather than an open-minded study.
As much emphasis is given to the few who were adversely affected by various aspects of the response as to the millions who were positively affected. This is hardly investigative journalism.
Surely it is the overall benefit to people that counts? We did not, and do not, have the issues of many other countries!
I cant see any merit in the last govts response to the Covid pandemic. We would have been better off if we just thought it was another strain of flu, and nobody mentioned pandemic. We wouldnt have wasted our time on lockdowns and vaccines, and would have gained herd immunity way way faster. We were all busy avoiding herd immunity, till that foolish immunologist Baker finally admitted that mandates and vaccines werent working. I dont know if people realize it was herd immunity that saved us in NZ, when we all stopped avoiding each other. Vaccines and lockdowns were just a distraction from us getting real herd immunity to Covid. The Covid vaccine never worked to stop infection or transmission.
Covid is a flu and as others have noted the treatment is isolation (don't go to work/school etc), rest and drink plenty of fluids. As Official Information Act requests have shown, as early as 2020 Ardern, Hipkins and Bloomfield et al KNEW that there was no safety evidence for the injection, that it didn't prevent transmission and it offered little or no protection against catching Covid. Yet with the cooperation of the media they ploughed ahead on a platform of fear and lies, with draconian measures that have left a legacy of social and personal chaos. As more information about the true effects of the injection continue to emerge, to a point where the media can no longer ignore the information, the mistrust of government and health professionals will grow and we will be truly alive to the full catastrophe that was our Covid response.
I'm 76 and have an autoimmune disease and my husband is 90. We did not have the injection, we have not had covid and I believe it was because we have well-functioning immune systems and took various protective measures. Go figure!
"The overreliance on lockdowns was driven by lack of proper public health infrastructure." Surely this is the whole reason for the response: our hospitals would be overwhelmed and totally unable to cope resulting in huge loss of life, which was avoided. Looks like nothing much has changed in the public health area under the current government. In fact it is worse and less likely to be able to deal with a pandemic in the future.
"In the early days of the lockdown the Government moved quickly to roll out a suite of measures to prevent mass unemployment and a crippling economic depression as most of the nation’s businesses were forced to close."
Mass unemployment was completely unnecessary. It put everyone into home detention when the correct response for centuries has been isolate the sick and vulnerable, and let the rest of the community get on with it.
It has forever tainted my trust in government, and socialist governments in particular.
Worst. Government. Ever.
Are you joking? The government we have now is beyond diabolical on just about every count.
At the end of the day the govt was dealing with a huge health problem the scale of which had never been seen before. Sure in hindsight mistakes were made and people made money unfairly but we were kept alive. We cannot blame we can learn.
What the current govt is up to is far far worse.
This government has ensured that our health system as we have known it is slowly being destroyed. To achieve this, they have appointed Lester Levy to be in charge. If you want to understand this look what he did to the CDHB.
I agree that the process of the inquiry should have been more public. But this one does cover a lot of bases, and could have been altered to become more comprehensive. The second one has obviously been set up so that the results will be released in election year and (the current govt hopes) will make Labour look bad. The previous govt wanted to look good, and the new govt just wants to make them look bad.
A commission to explore the countries response to the pandamic is a necessary part in preparing for the next. It is clear that financial aid didn't always get to those in most need of support. Also, in my view, the way teachers were effectively thrown under the bus by having to return to work, long before vaccination levels could reasonably have justified such a move, illustrated a weak link in enforcing further regional or national lockdowns. There are many instances where the interests of the many outweigh the rights of the individual. No one was forced to accept vaccination, but there were consequences to protect the greater interests of the many for those who refused. What I have found most revealing at the time, and subsequently has been the lack of proper respect our society affords in both monetary and conditions of service to service industry workers, without whose diligence to provide seamless access to the necessities of life during the pandemic, society would have completely collapsed.
The efficacy and safety of the untested technology was and is an issue. Whilst deaths from Covid itself were low, the ongoing aftermath of adverse effects is very evident. As a nation we need to 'redress' this. Informed consent, not mandated, and real scientific evidence in future.
Absolutely
You forgot to mention that the Ardern approach also caused death. Some people
‘S lives were ruined so badly they where driven into such despair annd committed suicide after her extreme policies, not helped by her call to all New Zealanders to shun, report and avoid those who “stood against” her totalitarian approach and refused to take the Covid Vaccine. I’ve seen the damage she did in this way firsthand. My nephew was one of these people.
Interesting. One of my recent realisations was the pace at which things moved. It all sounds easy In hindsight that mandates, MOQ etc were all problematic but things like MIQ arrived after people failed to follow instructions with self isolation etc. most importantly was the lack of hospital infrastructure for people who needed oxygen / icu level care. Nz has one of the lowest per capita ratio of icu beds in the world. As for the financial supports, biggest criticism I have is that a LOT of companies ended up not needing the money, but they didn’t pay it back. Will see how much of a circus public sessions will be soon enough… https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2023-10/pr-timeline-significant-events-activities.pdf
There is stark evidence from around the world both during the pandemic and in its aftermath that the politicisation of Covid responses, while inevitable, will not bring about the kind of policy adaptations that will prepare countries for future pandemics and major public health threats. This is particularly true of Western countries in which individual rights are front of mind for a significant portion of the population when balanced against community or society wide rights. It is clear in the NZ case that the Government of the Day sank under the constant weight of decision making and the uncertainties of information about the virus itself, about the effectiveness of mask wearing in a community context and the repeated mutations occurring overseas.
This against a background of a health system without enough ICU beds and ventilators to cope with a significant rush in critically sick patients, a scenario vividly reported out of the north of Italy in the initial stages of the pandemic. Given also the media parsed every decision, reporting conflicting information about many aspects of the pandemic and government responses the Ardern government retreated into its own silo, frozen by the enormity of the social, medical and perceived economic threats the country faced.
In looking back through the rear view measure we should also not forget a number of other sources of pressure. The calls from the business community for wage support and the differing positions of the opposition parties which chameleon like morphed as discontent bubbled up over mandates and lockdowns.
So I personally look for a concrete action plan being put before the public and going through a select committee process so that public input is open and transparent. I note in some of the responses on this platform and even more so on sites like X a vindictive desire to punish and blame. My family, as with others suffered immensely during the pandemic, a grandchild going through treatment for an aggressive blood cancer, children separated from their parents, a child with severe mental health issues and children out of school for longer than many others because of there sibling’s life and death health challenges. However, the focus should be about learning from mistakes and looking to the future, not head hunting or political point scoring in its social media posts of the last week.
The age of consent to vaccination in New Zealand was lowered to TWELVE YEARS from SIXTEEN, without public discussion during the COVID emergency .
School boundaries shield the peer pressure, medical monopoly and advertising from public and parental scrutiny.
This will bring an enormous price as the young people mature and exhibit the negative effects from the shafting. Sudden unexplained death, infertility, cardiac problems, malfunctioning kidney symptoms, neurological problems and immune function have already become very evident in those who had the PFIZER shots.
This four year drop in age to only twelve must be rescinded for our childrens safety.
I request the second commission investigate this.
Absolutely, thanks for pointing this out. And pregnant mothers and babies were urged to get vaccinated when there were NO safety tests for either group...
Thanks for this balanced report on how the initial Royal Commission inquiry panned out. I didn't have the time or inclination to examine the findings in detail, mostly because of the second more relevant inquiry starting soon, so it was good to be able to read a concise summation.
When will we see an article that quantifies the positive and negative effects of the response to the novel disease SARS-CoV-2?
The focus seems to be solely on “bad Jacinda” rather than an open-minded study.
As much emphasis is given to the few who were adversely affected by various aspects of the response as to the millions who were positively affected. This is hardly investigative journalism.
Surely it is the overall benefit to people that counts? We did not, and do not, have the issues of many other countries!
I thought we all had moved on from the anti Vax nonsense, but it seems any mention of COVID brings them all out again!!!
I cant see any merit in the last govts response to the Covid pandemic. We would have been better off if we just thought it was another strain of flu, and nobody mentioned pandemic. We wouldnt have wasted our time on lockdowns and vaccines, and would have gained herd immunity way way faster. We were all busy avoiding herd immunity, till that foolish immunologist Baker finally admitted that mandates and vaccines werent working. I dont know if people realize it was herd immunity that saved us in NZ, when we all stopped avoiding each other. Vaccines and lockdowns were just a distraction from us getting real herd immunity to Covid. The Covid vaccine never worked to stop infection or transmission.
They were all sent The first part of the PFIZER REPORT just days after it became available,
they were all informed about IVERMECTIN and every other develpoement that came to light as it happened and was PUBLISHED. So were the PRESS.
EVERY THING has been hijacked.
May love be with you all.
And we know that official deaths are substantially underreported in the U.S. Whereas, I very much doubt that kind of thing went on here in NZ.
Covid is a flu and as others have noted the treatment is isolation (don't go to work/school etc), rest and drink plenty of fluids. As Official Information Act requests have shown, as early as 2020 Ardern, Hipkins and Bloomfield et al KNEW that there was no safety evidence for the injection, that it didn't prevent transmission and it offered little or no protection against catching Covid. Yet with the cooperation of the media they ploughed ahead on a platform of fear and lies, with draconian measures that have left a legacy of social and personal chaos. As more information about the true effects of the injection continue to emerge, to a point where the media can no longer ignore the information, the mistrust of government and health professionals will grow and we will be truly alive to the full catastrophe that was our Covid response.
I'm 76 and have an autoimmune disease and my husband is 90. We did not have the injection, we have not had covid and I believe it was because we have well-functioning immune systems and took various protective measures. Go figure!
.