Queue-jumpers jabbed ahead of vulnerable
Healthy young people are ignoring the ‘be kind’ mantra and getting the vaccine quickly as nurses endure a bureaucratic runaround and the elderly isolate themselves until it’s their turn. Virginia Fallon and Warwick Rasmussen report.
Healthy, fit New Zealanders are jumping the Covid-19 vaccine queue at the expense of people with compromised health conditions and respiratory conditions.
That’s the view of Katheren Leitner, chief executive of Asthma NZ.
‘‘I cringe at saying this, but we just need to get back to being kind, we’re not being kind. There’s a lot of people being somewhat selfish – if you don’t need the vaccine, don’t have it right now, please.
‘‘Please let some of our vulnerable people who are being impacted in many more ways than just the obvious have it first.’’
There are three groups of people who can get vaccinated now in New Zealand. The first are border and MIQ workers, and the second are high-risk frontline workers and people living in high-risk places.
The third group is defined as ‘‘people who are at risk of getting very sick from Covid-19’’. That includes people aged over 65, who have a relevant underlying health condition, or are disabled, or are in a position of caring for a person with a disability.
On Thursday, it was announced the general population would start being vaccinated in age cohorts, from July 28.
However, despite the group announcements there was still a lot of confusion and unevenness around the group three rollout, according to Leitner.
‘‘There is a massive inconsistency not only in communication, but [also] in who can get it, and who is not able to get it.
‘‘We’re hearing stories of very, very healthy young people walking in or calling the 0800 number and getting vaccinated, then we hear of some of our patients that are told they don’t qualify just yet. I had to fight to get my [Asthma NZ] nurses vaccinated.’’
Leitner said she appreciated the difficult task of mass vaccination, and on many fronts the
Ministry of Health was doing a lot of good work.
‘‘But they seem to be getting a lot of things wrong here and that’s what’s so incredibly frustrating. Some of the things we’re hearing, the people [who are] getting vaccinated, and the rigmarole I’ve had to go through to get our nurses vaccinated, has been ridiculous. We interact with the most vulnerable.’’
She said some older people who had respiratory issues were suffering from real isolation and are choosing to stay home and were avoiding contact with family and friends because they are so worried about their health and access to the vaccine.
Leitner said some DHBs were doing a good job in terms of explaining who was in category two and who sat in tranche three.
‘‘However, even if you do fit, there seems to be some very grey areas and it seems to be who you contact at the ministry or Healthline determines whether you meet the criteria or not.’’
Leitner said chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients should be a priority and in some cases they have been.
‘‘There’s also a portion that haven’t, and it’s the inconsistency,’’ she said.
‘‘Because they’ll speak to one of their friends – typically someone from their COPD group – and that friend will say they’ve had it, and this person says ‘well I’m not eligible for it’ which then creates
‘‘We just need to get back to being kind, we’re not being kind. There’s a lot of people being somewhat selfish – if you don’t need the vaccine, don’t have it right now, please.’’ Katheren Leitner Chief executive of Asthma NZ
the anxiety, the confusion, the upset.’’
The Ministry of Health did not respond to questions about cases where people had jumped the vaccine queue, or if there were any consequences for people who did that.
An emailed statement attributed to Covid-19 vaccinations group manager Astrid Koornneef said a ‘‘sequencing framework’’ determined the order that people were vaccinated, with groups of people prioritised according to risk.
Delivering of the vaccines was the responsibility of each DHB, as well as local health providers.
‘‘As has been the case throughout the rollout, we expect the implementation to vary from DHB to DHB. Each DHB is taking an approach that works for their communities within the overall framework.’’
Koornneef said the ministry was in continuous contact with DHBs to help ensure the vaccination programme was rolled out effectively.
DHBs were at different stages of rolling out the vaccine and were trying to make it as easy as possible for people to receive their jabs, she said.
The ministry had been working with all DHBs to discuss expectations around booking and vaccinating people during each phase.
Each DHB has a plan to vaccinate their communities, which includes the number of doses they plan to administer each week, how they will access various target groups within their communities and the priority of vaccine administration given to these groups, Koornneef said.
‘‘DHBs also have the flexibility to respond to the needs of their local communities, and at times this means vaccinating some priority groups ahead of others. In remote areas, for example, where communities are widespread and harder to reach, this is a common-sense approach.’’
Leitner wanted greater transparency and clarity with what was happening with the rollout.
‘‘We need one source of truth [about] who is eligible and who you contact. None of this ‘being put on to this person then this other person’, they must have a single point of contact.
‘‘The Ministry of Health needs to own this. It did an exceptional job in the early days of Covid, but they just seem to have lost their control over the whole comms strategy here, they don’t seem to have one.’’