It’s astounding, time is fleeting,
Madness takes its toll,
But listen closely, not for very much longer,
I’ve got to keep control.
Caught in a time warp of her own making, Jacinda Ardern clings resolutely to her Covid-19 elimination strategy dependent on high vaccination rates, lockdowns and the inhumane, broken MIQ system. Ardern has succumbed to public pressure to shorten MIQ stays from next year, but that may not be enough to prevent public fury when people discover that they have been lied to.
“Despite being vaccinated and testing negative Sasha Holden was denied a compassionate exemption to visit her father Lyell Beard in a Christchurch Hospital room across the road. She said the Government’s planned overhaul of MIQ offers no more options to other people in the same situation.”
“Where is the humanity?” demanded Ryan Bridge of Jacinda Ardern, who said she was not familiar with the case. Holden’s father died while she languished in MIQ across the road, double jabbed and testing Covid negative.
On the Monday morning AM show Bridge compared Holden in MIQ with hundreds of New Zealanders at much more risk of spreading Covid because they tested positive to Covid and are self-isolating at home.
“Ryan, we are in a transition at the moment, things are starting to flip, we are shortening, we are moving to home isolation, we are just at the moment making sure that we do that carefully and safely because as you will hear from the people that help us with our modelling, if you switch off your border protections quickly, you do see extra cases, you do, it’s a given even with vaccinations, even with testing, and we all know that those thousands of cases we have from this outbreak at the moment started from one.”
Jacinda Ardern on the AM Show Monday 5 November
Ardern said Covid is a tricky virus and on Sunday’s Q&A told Jack Tame Auckland’s transition out of lockdown is a tricky transition saying, “Once we have a highly vaccinated Aotearoa, we will not be using hard borders.”
No hard borders then, but is she planning soft, movable borders that will pop up wherever and whenever needed (and least expected) to contain the inevitable Covid outbreaks?
“What people are looking for is logistically how we will undertake those checks at a land boundary that NZ traditionally has never had before, and what I am sharing is that is what our officials are currently working through are ways that we can make that as seamless as you possibly can given we do not traditionally operate land boundaries. And so, when we have the information to provide around the date and the way it will operate, we will do so, but as you can imagine it is not an easy exercise and one I want to make sure that before I put the information out I can answer all the questions you will have.”
Jacinda Ardern on Q&A 7 November 2021
Despite a very slow vaccine rollout and now, based on overseas experience of delta, an anticipated poor vaccine performance, Ardern has not revisited her Covid strategy.
Instead, she doubled down to gloat about NZ having one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. Not being included in the top 10 is hardly among the highest vaccinated. At 6 November NZ is 77% fully vaccinated, along with Italy, with 11 other countries ahead of us.
With the Christmas holidays looming, the PM told Tame Auckland will be let out for summer, but refused to give the timing. How Auckland’s borders can be opened without spreading delta is a mystery, with the PM saying high vaccine uptake is key.
Ardern’s claim of vaccine efficacy is under threat from overseas studies. One small study found “In roughly half of all subjects, neutralizing antibodies that can block infection against coronavirus variants such as Delta, Beta, and Mu were undetectable at six months after the second dose.” A booster shot twice a year could deter New Zealanders unwilling to become human pin cushions.
Ardern’s claim of safety is also under threat. In South Australia during a protest by 3,000 health workers, one protestor who claimed to be a nurse also claimed that 30 out of 38 Covid patients in ICU are vaxed; that hospitals are full of the vaccine injured and that myocarditis is raging among the vaccinated. [Editor’s Note: The protestor’s claims were not backed up with any hard evidence]
And last but not least, the Ardern government is ignoring the fundamental right to informed consent to medical procedures. Worldwide, people are in the streets in growing numbers protesting against mandatory vaccination, including here in New Zealand.
Ardern’s only arsenal is mandating a failing vaccine and lockdowns.
Auckland businesses meanwhile are trapped, unable to plan for the future when the mat can be dragged out from under them at very short notice.
Please share this article so that others can discover The BFD