Lockdown change seems premature
Opinion: Remember the cliche about a week being an eternity in politics? Seven days elapsed between the Vaxathon and last Friday’s exit strategy plans. In between came the rush to boost vaccine uptake among Māori, the news that some classrooms could reopen, the hints of a new targeted support scheme for business, and the first signs that the health system may be buckling under the Covid pressure.
In any normal week, each of those items would have dominated the news cycle for days on end. At base, all those issues came down to where – and how – to balance the psychological and commercial need to ease restrictions, with the wider need to reduce the chances for virus transmission.
For the last 18 months, the best public health outcomes have been regarded as delivering the best economic outcomes. That approach is no longer seen to be a viable political option. Patience has run out on any measures that call for further sacrifice.
If vaccinations truly are our only path back to normality, this will still be quite a long and winding road. On the eve of the Government scrapping the old lockdown levels, we were still below the 70 per cent double-dosed figure, nationwide. Fewer than 50 per cent of Māori were fully vaccinated. It has seemed highly premature to be acting as though victory was imminent, and moving on.
Although one hates to be the Grinch at the coming-out party, the distinction between the vaccinated and unvaccinated is also somewhat simplistic.
Meaning: although everyone wishes otherwise, vaccines do not make us bulletproof.
No doubt, double-dose vaccination is essential, and makes Covid-19 a less serious illness but, even then, the illness effects can be long-lasting, for the unlucky minority who get ‘‘long Covid’’.
That’s one reason the Government has to consider far more than the deep pockets of vulnerability among Māori communities, crucial though these are.
As last week’s column should have spelt out more clearly, the calculation of risk goes beyond the 85 to 90 per cent headline rates of vaccination. The risk on the ground also includes the less than perfect efficacy rate for the vaccine, and the rate of ‘‘breakthrough’’ infections that occur.
So when National talks of removing all restrictions at 85 per cent double-dose vaccinations by December 1 – or whichever comes first – tell them they’re dreaming. Such ‘‘plans’’ indicate just how far the political pendulum has swung towards economic priorities, and away from public health ones.
Moreover, while the audible business sector has been demanding ‘‘certainty’’ from the policy mix provided by the Government, it has become clear that what they’ve really been asking for is a certainty of income, largely provided by the taxpayer.
By and large, the public – and the Government – have been sympathetic to firms doing it hard. The taxpayer has bankrolled billions of dollars in business assistance, and supported the compelling reasons for borrowing more and spending more, in order to keep firms afloat during their time of need.
That being so, a little less sense of entitlement (and a smidgeon of gratitude) might go a long way towards keeping the public on side, especially as the health situation starts to unravel.