Check this out. Police opposed to mandated vaccination.
Monday Meme
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Grant Schofield on the Vaccine Mandates
Taken from Professor Grant Schofield’s Facebook Page. He is Professor of Public Health at AUT University and director of the University’s Human Potential Centre.
This post has taken me too long to get up the guts to write.
You see I’m a Professor in Public Health. One of the most important things in public health is “to do no harm”. Or at least in a more practical sense, have the good by far outweigh the harms you cause with whatever intervention you choose.
This is about vaccine mandates. It’s a complex and emotive issue.
The brutal truth is that there are no harm free choices here. All choices will have some harm.
But, deadlines are coming – here’s our Ministry of Health’s advice under public orders “Any health and disability workers (employed or voluntary, private and public) who fall under these roles must receive their first dose of the vaccine by 11.59pm 15 November 2021. They must receive their second dose by 1 January 2022.”
That’s Monday folks.
I’m not an “anti-vaxxer”. I’m fully vaccinated.
But some people will choose not to follow these orders for various reasons. Some of them may be logical based on the data that there is no protection beyond 200 days, and the data on reductions in transmission are limited, and they are concerned about adverse events.
We all make different decisions given similar data because we are all different and have different ways of weighing risks and benefits. They may see the futility of a public health system which would on current evidence have to boost every 120-150 days to maintain vaccine efficacy. Or maybe they just don’t like being told what to do, or have a more complex theory which may be spurious. Who really knows?
Anyway, the point is that there will always be a group who for whatever reason decides that, in this case, their bodily sovereignty, is sacred to them and they will refuse a public health order like this.
What this means is on Monday kids will turn up to school and their classroom teacher will no longer be there, that their mid-wife will no longer be working, that their doctor is no longer able to practice.
This will cause serious harm. It almost certainly will mean that our already overwhelmed health and education systems will not have the staff to carry out normal duties.
This debate has already caused substantial harm and division in our beautiful country.I believe in the context of the recent Swedish data showing vaccine waning, that it’s now obvious to any thinking person the futility of these mandates.
We can predict that the exact thing we are trying to avoid “overwhelming the health system” is exactly what we are going to do by firing health workers.
What government puts on its own handcuffs on and throws away the key?
This isn’t us.
So sorry I can’t stand by silently and watch this. I have to say something.
I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to pluck up the courage.
Sorry if this upsets you, but come Monday I know of real teachers, real GPs, real mid-wives, real physios, real people without jobs. Real communities without their beloved teachers and health professionals who are here to care for them. These are my communities, my friends, my school.
These are mostly not lunatic fringe anti-vaxxers. They are people often making their own rationale decision. Yes its different than mine, but it is theirs.
I fear we are choosing more harm than good, and in my field that’s just not acceptable. In fact it’s unethical and immoral.
Please think about what your thoughts are on this matter. It is really an important one for our society right now. Saying nothing when you think there will be more harm than good is complicit in supporting that harm.
Please comment, share, or do whatever you think is right here. Please if you do comment think about what you say and please confront the issues not the person.
Thanks for reading this,
Grant Schofield PhD
Professor of Public Health
*disclaimer – these views are mine and don’t represent those of anyone else, including those who employ me.
Ian Wishart’s Open Letter to The Media
This is why vast numbers of people think the government and health officials are idiots and we in the media are their mentally-challenged handmaid:
“The woman says from the outset the sick family relied on advice from a fragmented Covid-19 health response that allegedly never gave her father a directive to go to hospital, instead offering throat lozenges and paracetamol as treatment.”
The guy died coughing up blood because the “best” advice from officials was suck a lolly.
Where the frick was the advice on steroids, antihistamines, even scientifically proven (on human coronavirus, influenza and herpes) antivirals like Kaloba!? Or even something that at least has immune support like high dose vitamin C and zinc?
If this poor guy had tried ivermectin or hcq to stay alive the media would have smugly laughed at him whilst dutifully publishing a “warning” from Bloomfield and Hipkins reminding the public to “trust the experts”.
What an indictment on politics and health that the best official treatment for covid is a throatie.
Frankly, I have read the ivermectin studies and they’re underwhelming. However, I suspect that even ivermectin is light years ahead of a throat lozenge.
These incompetents at the ministry of health couldn’t run a Bunnings sausage sizzle.
Read MoreI wonder…
I wonder. Will the evangelical thought leaders, who have in recent times become so concerned with the health of their brothers and sisters in Christ that they constantly and publically urge and shame them into getting the Covid vaccine, start using the same tactics regarding other health issues? You know, like obesity? And exercise?
Oh no, I guess that would be fat-shaming. Funny how when the propaganda is with them they are so bold. When the narrative is against them, they are like little kittens.
Monday Meme
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Update – My Letter of Exemption
Update to Original Post
The following was written and scheduled to appear on Sojournal today. Since being written, section 7A of the recent order which allowed for exemptions in a fairly broad way has been revoked. Another day, another law change around here. This government has lost legitimacy.
GUEST POST – Scott Kennedy
I’ve been trying to get an exemption from the current vaccine mandates in order to be able to continue doing the job I love. Exemptions according to the recent law can be given by suitably qualified health practitioners for ‘physical or other needs‘. Unfortunately, many GPs and health practitioners are running scared as governing bodies threaten and attempt to coerce them into refusing to grant exemptions despite the fact that the law clearly allows them to do so. Then we had Chris Hipkins making up law on the fly saying that exemptions that have been granted do not count and that there will be one central exemption process and everyone will need to follow it. Again this is not what the current law requires. Handily for the government, this centralised system comes into effect for health and education workers on the same day they are required to have had their first vaccination. How convenient. I am pushing ahead trying to gain an exemption under the current law anyway. I’ve come up against a few roadblocks thus far, but will continue to seek one. My latest attempt is to write a letter explaining my religious convictions and present this to a health practitioner. Seems a bit strange considering I am more qualified than most health practitioners I know on matters theology, but there you go!
Read MoreFreedom!!!!!!!
I was reading a few things recently and came to understand something from a new perspective.
In the current situation sometimes I will hear someone say or imply that people wanting their freedoms are just being selfish. They are just fighting for their own freedoms. But I don’t think this is actually true.
I believe that when someone fights for freedom, whether they know it or not, they are actually fighting for freedom for everyone.
In Ethan’s post “Lessons from the Gulags” there is a very interesting quote from Alexander Solzhenitsyn:
From that point of view our torturers have been punished most horribly of all: they are turning into swine, they are departing downward from humanity.
You can usually see the impact of the loss of freedom on the oppressed person quite easily. But what’s easy to miss is the impact this has on the oppressor. As Solzhenitsyn states, when you look at the soul, they receive punishment most of all.
In the Guest Post “Vaccine Mandates – A Small Business Perspective” there is a closing quote from Rosa Parks:
I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free… so other people would be also free.
Rosa Parks fought for freedom for herself. She also fought for freedom for black Americans.
But what did she, and others, actually gain?… Freedom for the whole of America.
Rosa may not have intended to include those who oppressed her in the group of “others” she was wanting to be free. But in regard to the “soul” of America, that is exactly what she helped to achieve.
The Madness of Our Times
Something that I have noticed in these unfortunate times is the surprisingly high proportion of people who are ‘experts’ on the covid situation, and who know exactly what everyone else should do. Fortunately for us ordinary and uneducated rubes, these people are kind enough to share with us exactly what we ought to be doing. All the time. One only has to naively sign into one’s social media account to be accosted by ignorant fools pontificating on the latest developments.
What I find extremely amusing is that many of these ‘experts’ who seek to win people over to their position, are people whose advice and common sense I would never consult in most ordinary life situations because they have never shown themselves to be competent adult citizens. Nonetheless, in one of the more unsettling ironies of our time, an inversely proportional relationship exists between one’s competence and one’s willingness to publicise one’s views on a particular topic. These people tend to be extremely zealous on social media in attempting to win people over to their point of view, which incidentally tends to be a parroting of government propaganda and poorly researched ‘facts’.
What is ridiculous about this is that such pawns would assume that intelligent critical thinking individuals would actually be interested in listening to what they have to say. Personal credibility matters.
How’s That Line in the Sand Going?
GUEST POST – Scott Kennedy
It’s been over a week now since I went public with the article “My Line in the Sand”. What a rollercoaster ride! In this time I’ve been inundated with messages some supporting my line in the sand, some suggesting I smooth over the sand and choose a new location for the line, and others questioning my character, sanity and motivations. So in this piece I will share my reflections on the reaction to my article.
The Positives
Firstly let me reflect on some of the positives. A highlight for me has been realising I am not alone. There are a lot of us out there. Never before in my life have I received so many encouraging messages about what I am doing most of them from complete strangers. Thank you to all of you who shared messages of support. Our family was blown away with the support and humbled to see the care and concern of many for our plight, and the plight of many good citizens in New Zealand.
A number of supporters have been extremely generous. There have been suggestions and practical tips to help deal with stress and anxiety (thanks Juana from The BFD), multiple offers of financial assistance should we require it, offers of a holiday spot for the family this summer, offers of work, offers of help setting up a small business and many new contacts and alliances formed. Frankly, I’ve been astounded by the love and generosity of these people many of whom have come from the Christian community, and most who do not know me personally.
Read More