A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Well, who would have thought? Not only have I been able to get a letter regarding the mandated-out nurses having to be rehired printed in the NZ Herald (24/10/22), but that paper itself is now questioning the efficacy of the current vaccines, which shows them to be ineffective at preventing
or even slowing down infections between the vaccinated and unvaccinated — and therefore making the original reasons for mandating-out nurses who refused vaccination null and void. The refusal of the health department to allow the re-hiring of those mandated nurses is now looking only childish and ego-driven.
I have previously talked about social healing in our communities. Rehiring nurses is a big step in the right direction in our local healing, even if there are so many other issues needing to be addressed.
The Gisborne Herald will prove to have been a leader locally in that healing process even in putting up a community poll on the issue, and I am sure that our main national papers and TV reporting — which has held back on the issue recently — will have to follow the same ethic.
The re-hiring of mandated-out health professionals will be a win-win, even when we are all facing so many other issues that will require the public to all pull together, rather than cling to divisive attitudes and strategies.
Dennis Pennefather
