Jab comedy of errors testing Jury of 5m

The public debate about the worthiness of the Wiggles and the Lion King cast getting managed isolation spots shows it does not take much for the Prime Minister’s much-lauded Team of Five Million to turn into the Jury of Five Million.

Politicians should take note, for already the same tendency is popping up around the vaccination rollout.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has shown she is wary about the prospect of political fallout from getting an early shot herself, despite the factors in favour of it.

Nonetheless, Ardern applies the “abundance of caution” to political matters as well as to Covid-19. She sent her Covid-19 Minister Chris Hipkins and health ministers out as an advance party to test the waters.

Hipkins got his vaccination on Wednesday, as did Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall.

Few batted an eye. Let’s face it, not many are going to bicker about ministers — or the PM — getting vaccinations early.

But things are a little more complex for the Opposition.

It is possible National Party leadership sensed a trap when Hipkins “invited” health spokesman Shane Reti and Covid spokesman Chris Bishop to get jabs ahead of the roll-out to the “vulnerable” category of the population.

It was an offer Hipkins had to be seen to make. But Hipkins may well also have hoped that a burden shared was a burden halved — and if there was to be a backlash about politicians bagging places at the front of the queue, they would all cop it.

Something of a comedy of errors then ensued for National.

The party’s MPs had not been given a heads-up about the plan to invite them to get the vaccinations ahead of the public announcement.

Soon after that, Reti was asked if he was going to take up the offer of an early vaccination.

He said no, he did not see any reason for himself to skip ahead of the vulnerable group.

Cue outrage about his unwillingness to take part. It later transpired Reti had not known about the invitation from Hipkins at the time.

The next morning, Judith Collins said she would accept an early vaccination if invited. At that point, National did not know whether the political leaders were also “invited” to get the early vaccinations.

Covid-19 spokesman Chris Bishop said he would get it, and Reti subsequently also said he would accept the invitation.

A few hours later, the PM appeared to snooker them all by saying she would not be going early herself — but would wait until just before the start of the public vaccinations in July.

Her reason was the very same one for which Reti was criticised: While she wanted to set an example, those who were vulnerable needed it first.

Of more concern to the Jury of Five Million is when they will get the vaccines — not when politicians will.

The Government deserves scrutiny because elements of the rollout are political.

It is a political decision as to who gets vaccinated and when. The Government also sets the rules for who can claim a special case and skip the queue, such as sportspeople and diplomats (and ministers themselves who need to travel).

It is also political because it is the politicians who will cop the flak for any blunders, missteps or delays in the vaccine rollout.

Thus far, the Government has delivered a masterpiece in trying to give the illusion it has already released a “comprehensive” vaccinations rollout plan. It seemed to think that simply using the title “comprehensive” would make it true.

That plan has consisted of a graph of the rollout plan.

The trouble is the graph was so vague as to be meaningless. The data behind it was not released, nor was it labelled clearly. That was apparently because providing the details would reveal when shipments of the vaccine were due to arrive.

If you cannot provide the data, do not provide a graph.

Then came an online tool pitched as an opportunity to find out when you would get your vaccine.

That too delivered nothing more than generalised information: The same information already widely known about the tranches of delivery: Border and MIQ workers, health workers, vulnerable people and then the rest of us from July.

Hipkins has said the Government is aiming to ramp up vaccination numbers to 50,000 — 60,000 a day after July. But there are still no specifics on how the general rollout will work, whether it will be a game of bullrush to the vaccination clinics, or whether the wider public will also be broken down somehow.

Nor do we yet know what happens once the first rollout is complete — given annual vaccinations will be needed.

The Jury of Five Million may find its patience with politicians bickering over early vaccinations wears thin quickly.