Community leaders should be setting a good example for vaccination. Photo / Getty Images
OPINION:
Risking your job over a vaccine mandate seems to me a pretty strange hill to die on — pardon the morbid saying.
But that's exactly what many people, opposed to being told to get the jab or risk their jobs, are doing.
One Bay of Plenty school principal is taking this stand. Such is his conviction that he is willing to be potentially barred from entering his own school.
Four of the school's staff, including one teacher, are also prepared to leave.
Rangiuru School principal Mike Gullick says he has "a big problem" with the teacher mandate forcing people to either get vaccinated or lose their livelihoods, and would not get the vaccine.
A parent says such a loss of staff would be "pretty devastating for this small school".
The teacher vaccine mandate requires anyone who is in contact with children in an educational setting to have had their first dose by November 15 and be fully vaccinated by January 1.
Working from home until the end of the year could be an option to help ease the impact on the school and on day-to-day operations, Gullick says. He adds: "I think everyone's realistic that they certainly won't have a job next year – it's not a sustainable move."
In my opinion, he's right - it's not a sustainable move. We need our school staff on site.
I fear staff not getting vaccinated in time will place a big strain on school communities.
Other community leaders are also advocating for the freedom of choice over the vaccine mandates, and a number of rallies have been held or are planned.
Source: Ministry of Health (as at -)
Generally speaking, part of the wider problem is social media misinformation.
In my view, it is important people get their vaccine information from reliable sources — not social media hysteria.
On social media, those determined to spread misinformation have turned what should be a public health issue into a cultural and social war and, unfortunately, I fear this has bubbled over into our school and rural communities.
The vaccine-hesitant may have legitimate concerns that can be alleviated by a chat with their GP and doing their own research from reputable sources, but seeing community leaders take, in my view, risky stands is sad.
Recently, Murupara kaumatua Pem Bird said he wanted his community to have a choice of vaccines and wait for another that might be more effective.
But consider this: In a British study tracking more than 200,000 people, nearly every single person (close to 100 per cent) had developed antibodies against the Covid-19 virus within two weeks of their second dose of both the Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines.
The figures for those aged 80 and above dropped slightly to 98 per cent for those who received the Pfizer vaccine, while it dropped to 84 per cent for AstraZeneca.
I believe New Zealand has the right vaccine — and it's the one health officials have deemed the most effective.
It is true we don't have a choice. But people didn't get to choose which polio, diphtheria or MMR vaccine they got. They received the one the Government approved.
In my opinion, holding out and waiting for a "better vaccine" or putting communities in limbo is simply wrong.
I note we had a record 163 new Covid-19 cases announced yesterday — 159 in Auckland and four in Waikato.
A second person isolating at home with Covid died.
Covid is steadily marching its way towards us here in the Bay of Plenty.
I believe our communities need their leaders to show leadership and do the right thing.
The right thing here, in my view, is to step up and encourage eligible people to get the vaccine.
For information on the safety of the Covid-19 vaccine and other things you need to know, listen to our podcast Science Digest with Michelle Dickinson:
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