When leading is saying ‘you first’
An important requirement for those wishing to lead from the front is that they’re not disorientated about whether they’re truly at the front to begin with. Otherwise they’re potentially just climbing over the backs of others.
That was the regrettable impression created by the members of the Auckland District Health Board who have received Covid-19 vaccinations before some of their frontline health workers.
A board representative says these members were vaccinated early to lead by example and help encourage vaccine uptake by staff, who they seem to think are looking to them for guidance.
This may be the explanation, but it’s scant justification. It’s true that some leading public figures, both worldwide and in
New Zealand, have been taking shots early to demonstrate confidence in vaccine safety.
But this is a matter the Government has treated as extremely sensitive because of the very damaging message that could instead be sent – that queue jumping is something those with enough power, and sense of entitlement, might get away with.
Until recent days the Government was reluctant to get its ministers vaccinated for fear they’d be seen as shouldering their way ahead of those more deserving. In case this reticence became an issue in itself, some figureheads have been chosen for early jabs in what seems a careful sequence.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins, and Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall, who is an infectious diseases physician, were lined up, to be followed a little later by the likes of Health Minister Andrew Little, Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio and Defence Minister Peeni Henare.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has herself sought a somewhat hazy middle ground. A little early but not too early. Yes, she’ll be receiving her own shots before the general population, but not just yet. She needs to be seen as waiting her turn.
‘‘I’ve been really mindful,’’ she says, ‘‘of not taking the vaccine from someone else who it’s really critical for . . . There are people who are at risk and I’m not one of them.’’
The Government has invited MPs from other political parties who have health and Covid19-related portfolios also to be vaccinated but this has met some resistance.
National’s Dr Shane Reti says he’ll only get the jab when it’s his turn and that if MPs have any credibility their recommendations should stand ‘‘without needing to jump the queue’’.
Such is the minefield into which the Auckland DHB members have galumphed with apparently inspirational intent.
In so doing they have shown an inflated sense of their own figurehead status. For those in their position, the way to lead by example would be to wait their turn, letting that be seen as an endorsement of the importance of sticking to wellcalibrated prioritisations based on the disciplines of epidemiological and medical need.
Setting those priorities is itself a complex matter but there are some givens. One of which is that public-facing border workers and frontline health workers need to be more to the fore than those higher up the health hierarchy.
So the lesson here, surely, is that if you think you might have a case for going early because others will be looking to you for guidance, you should get that verified, rather than assuming your reasoning will stand up to public scrutiny.