Covid-19 Delta outbreak: Jo Raphael: You have a choice about vaccines, make the right one

OPINION

We are now officially in the new traffic light system, and while there are some niggles we have a way forward.

Delta has tried to take a foothold in our communities, and while we need to resign ourselves to its constant presence it must not go unchecked.

We are also so tantalisingly close to the magic 90 per cent figure for vaccination rates. Lakes DHB is at 80 per cent fully vaxxed, while BOP DHB is at 82 per cent (as of December 2).

There is still a frustrating issue that rankles me.

Anti-vaxxers – those who won't get vaccinated because they haven't or won't use the information that is readily available to educate themselves – are, in my view, wilfully ignorant.

Cries of discrimination against those who refuse to get vaccinated is a direct slap in the face to those who can't - and to those who already have and are ready to get on with their lives.

Discrimination is cruel and affects groups of people who can't change something about themselves. Race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, disability, nationality and age, to name a few.

Becoming vaccinated is something you can change.

Vaccine mandates are about public health, not discrimination - it's that simple.

If you want to drive a car, you need a licence. You are not being discriminated against if you want to drive but don't have a licence. You have a choice.

If you want to work with children or vulnerable people, you need a police vet. If you don't want to be vetted you can't be in that job. You have a choice.

Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie summed it up best when she said recently: "The only people who need protection from discrimination are people who can't receive the vaccine for reasons outside their control."

Lambie, during a no-holds-barred speech opposing Australian political party One Nation's vaccine discrimination bill, went on to say:

"But if you are able to get vaccinated and you choose not to, 'discrimination' is the wrong word. That's not discrimination. You have the freedom to make a choice. But if you make a choice, those choices have consequences.

"...You're making a choice that means you're more likely to get Covid, and you're more likely to spread it to someone else. And that is your choice, it is your right. … I support that choice. But you don't get to decide how the rest of Australia responds to that choice."

Those crying about the loss of freedoms and being discriminated against have a choice.

To me, it is a simple one - help our community get back on track, help our fellow Kiwis who are vulnerable. Let's get out of the red zone.