Letters for Saturday October 16, 2021

Kia Orana Editor,

I make reference to yesterday’s response to Cook Islands News from Mr Bob Williams, Secretary for Ministry of Health, Te Marae Ora (TMO) relating to concerns for those working in the health and educations sectors to be compelled to receive the Pfizer vaccination. (No jab, no job policy, Cook Islands News, October 15)

As correctly pointed out by Mr Williams, the Government of New Zealand has started imposing a ‘No jab, no job’ policy on health workers and teachers. Any decision to follow suit here in the Cook Islands will be made after robust consultations, which I expect to be initiated by TMO with those who would be impacted, including with the public.

In addition, I anticipate that TMO will present its findings to the Border Easement Taskforce (BET), who in turn will decide on whether this new policy initiative warrants support. The next step in the process of implementing this policy would be for the Central Agencies Committee – made up of the Solicitor General, Financial Secretary, Chief of Staff and I – to consider and make recommendations on the initiative before it is submitted to Cabinet for final consideration and decision.

So the public can be rest assured that any major policy initiative such as ‘No jab, no job’ for health workers, teachers and other public servants for that matter, will be thoroughly discussed and carefully considered and will be based on robust and evidence-based research before being submitted to Cabinet for approval or otherwise. 

Our public servants are Government’s most important asset and key to delivering services to our communities. With that in mind, their safety and wellbeing is essential. Any further measures to protect our vulnerable people, the sick and our children will also follow these steps of consultation.  Whatever that decision ends up being will be made with a focus on minimising the possibility of the transmission of Covid-19 and its variants here in the Cook Islands for the long-term protection and wellbeing of our people in our Ipukarea.

To conclude, I can reassure the public that any new major policy initiative emanating from Government does in fact go through a thorough and robust process of key stakeholders and senior officials before Cabinet gets to consider what has been tabled before making a decision.

Meitaki ma’ata

Carl Hunter

Public Service Commissioner

The importance of vaccinations

Increasingly, we are seeing everyday people using Google and other online resources to better inform themselves on health issues. Whilst this is a good thing generally, it can sometimes become a very slippery rabbit-hole, especially for a layperson untrained in critical analysis, or having had little experience in the pitfalls of suffering from an unchecked confirmation bias. The experience risks evolving into a sinking quagmire of muddled science, cherry-picked information, and pithy soundbites – ultimately culminating in a determination that the exception in every case proves the rule. There is no shortage of information out there on the world-wide web to supply the budding conspiracy theorist with everything they need to confirm all their worst suspicions and fears.

Faced with such volumes of ‘evidence’, any and all other dissenting elements can be conveniently explained away by ad hoc references to ‘smear campaigns’, ‘big pharma’, and/or a degree of collusion at a state/government/global media level that has heretofore never been seen in all of documented history.

In this case, we are led to believe by Ms Serena Hunter in her letter earlier this week (Looking at the alternatives, Cook Islands News, October 13), that the opinions and testimonies of a vast and overwhelming majority of medical practitioners are irrelevant (https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2021/10/doctors-for-covid-vaccination/), and it is the views of such-and-such individual (insert requisite medical qualification and expertise) instead that we should follow. This is her opinion but it’s not one that I happen to share.

Beyond that however, I became rather more concerned when she asks “Why are we just following New Zealand, who follows the US, whose Covid response is driven by WHO, FDA, CDC, NIH, who are owned by big pharma companies and have so many conflicting interests”. The suggestion that New Zealand Medsafe simply ‘follows the US’, and that the WHO and CDC/FDA is ‘owned by big pharma’, is not only false and unsupported conjecture, but also I believe, quite irresponsible.

In any event, I would have thought that we have all been “taking note of what is happening around the world”, watching from the privileged comfort of our little bubble, the horrors that unfolded in Europe, Brazil, and the US. And more recently, New Caledonia, Fiji and French Polynesia. No doubt we hold our collective breath with every daily report emanating from NZ Health officials as they race against the clock to vaccinate as many people as possible and limit the spread with ever-increasing lockdowns.

At the end of the day, it is naïve to think that all of this could be fixed if we only follow what some celebrity did, or take a magic pill and it all magically disappears. However to Ms. Hunter’s point, it is both treatment and vaccination that is important and neither should be neglected. To cite one of the doctors referred to in her piece, Dr. Marik, who “finds it particularly disappointing that his work has been misinterpreted as potentially undermining vaccination”.

“That’s complete nonsense,” he said. “I was vaccinated yesterday and I believe this is a bridge to vaccination.” Which is the key point here, vaccination has an absolutely critical role to play in keeping people out of hospital, and this should not be downplayed.

Thus to her question “Why are people here still so afraid of Covid reaching our country when we are 97% vaccinated?” Assuming this percentage refers to those eligible for vaccination, I would suggest there are several logical reasons for that. Firstly, even with 3% of our eligible population being unvaccinated, either those who chose not to, or for health/age related reasons could not get vaccinated – this could mean several hundred people being admitted to hospital. Children too young to be vaccinated are an increasing group of those becoming infected (20% in NZ) and a proportion of them would also wind up in hospital. Meanwhile, all those with existing health concerns would also continue to need care. Furthermore, one might reasonably expect the freedoms we presently enjoy would be drastically curtailed through social distancing measures, masks, rolling lockdowns, and school closures. I suggest it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out why we are not in a hurry to usher this virus into the country, given its ability to completely overrun the extremely limited resources of our Health department.

It’s hard to fathom how the idea of favouring treatment after catching Covid-19, rather than getting vaccinated to either prevent infection or significantly limit its severity, is considered to be a winning strategy on its own. It is certainly not one that has been followed in any other country to my knowledge.

Whilst I always respect people’s right to voice their opinions, in this case, I feel that a response was warranted, lest we all find ourselves in the trap of paying too much heed to ‘alternative facts’ – as enticing and seemingly plausible these may often be.

Meitaki,

(Name and address supplied)

Jab it?

“Jab all kinds of human beings living on the face of Planet Earth, whether they are 0-2 years, 12-15 years, young, adult, senior, elderly” is the message internationally by an un-identified power which control our freedom of choice (Liberty of conscience).

Is it a prediction? Quoted from 1 Peter 5:8 – “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”

Let’s watch and see what next.

Remember – the great I Am is our only safeguard in this world of uncertainties.

Cheer up.

Tutai Mareta Parker

Stricter protocols

Hey I just came off three negative Covid tests in Auckland and flew home to a country over 96 per cent (of eligible population) vaccinated. Also, my first negative Covid result in Raro this (yesterday) morning.

Why do the protocols need to be stricter? Like not allowed outside the room for more than one hour, not allowed to take a swim, etc. … over the top.

While I agree that MIQ is necessary, and the staff all round have been amazing, why do the rule makers treat us like babies with no brains.

Grant Priest,

Cohort #2

Northern tour

The country must be in a really bad way with the news reporting annual taxpayer debt servicing estimated to hit $27 million by 2024. That’s me and you folks, us taxpayers going to foot the bill for these guys spending money on themselves yet again. And here, the now not deputy prime minister, gets a tax payer, you and me, funded trip up to his home land so he can ‘check’ on how things are going. Are you for real?

If I stood a worker down and told him to put down his tools and go home because he (allegedly) stole from me, the last thing I would be doing is the next day pitting him on a plane to go up north for let’s see, $15,000 round trip to ‘check’ on his projects. Come on is this even for real, you guys are taking the mick out of us poor taxpayers time and time again.

I see the new CIP member for Manihiki taking full use of taxpayers’ money also to ‘check’ on things at home, she obviously learnt well from her husband how to spend taxpayer money without batting an eyelid.

Truth be told Mr Puna could have put his two-year-old son to stand in Manihiki and they would have voted for him.

Still annoyed Taxpayer