Two years of Covid mandates teeter on a knife edge after the balance of power shifted from Jacinda Ardern into the hands of the Wellington protesters.
Globally, countries are dropping Covid mandates and abandoning the pretence that mandates are sustainable, admitting they did not achieve what was promised.
Wellington protesters camped on parliament’s lawn refuse to budge despite Trevor Mallard’s bullying tactics. If anything, his efforts motivated the protesters and when the government realise that their numbers are growing they will have to listen.
If the government, academics and media bothered to look down from their ivory towers they might notice the prevailing state of discontent up and down the country. They haven’t bothered to read the room.
Police Commissioner ‘Cuddles’ Coster says Wellington tow truckers are too scared to tackle protesters but one towing company owned up to the real reason for their hesitation which is sympathy for the protesters.
Ardern said the vaccine mandate does not penalise children. Either she lied or is stupidly ignorant of the effect of the mandates on children. She appeared surprised when Barry Soper raised the issue, saying “we wouldn’t do that.” How is she unaware that under five-year-olds can’t swim in the local pool, visit the library or enjoy a jumping beans class if their parent/caregiver is not vaccinated? School children are banned from club sports if the parent/caregiver is not vaccinated. Unvaccinated teenagers are banned from sports clubs and sporting events.
This is the segregated, cruel New Zealand that Ardern needlessly created. The protesters don’t care who is vaccinated and who is not but Ardern’s two-tiered society does. It judges the unvaccinated harshly.
Even her bought and paid for loyal MSM have asked why the government won’t talk with protesters after Ardern outright lied by claiming that they don’t want to talk to the government.
The protesters are enjoying a sniff of real empathy and freedom which they won’t relinquish any time soon. The vibe at the protest is the real New Zealand, the vibe of my childhood an era of tolerance and love which Ardern’s government destroyed under the lie of being kind and keeping us safe.
The timing is right because the truth is coming out. Last month Professor Ehud Qimron, head of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Tel Aviv University and one of the leading Israeli immunologists, wrote an open letter to the Israeli health authorities criticising their disastrous Covid mandates.
Israel’s heavy-handed management of the coronavirus pandemic is reflected around the world, including here. Governments are quick to claim success for their Covid strategies when the virus followed a natural pattern of ebbing and falling away. Flatten the curve they said, about a virus that will do that anyway.
“Two years late, you finally realize that a respiratory virus cannot be defeated and that any such attempt is doomed to fail. You do not admit it because you have admitted almost no mistake in the last two years. Still, in retrospect, it is clear that you have failed miserably in almost all of your actions, and even the media is already having a hard time covering your shame.
Despite years of observations and scientific knowledge, you refused to admit that the infection comes in waves that fade by themselves. You insisted on attributing every decline of a wave solely to your actions, and so through false propaganda, “you overcame the plague.”
Rio Times
Israel’s story is our story. Their Pfizer vaccine rollout was very successful, beginning well ahead of ours and providing the opportunity for a sensible government to take note of Israel’s plight at least a year ago.
“As of the end of 2020, the State of Israel, with a population of 9.3 million, had administered more COVID-19 vaccine doses than all countries aside from China, the US, and the UK. Moreover, Israel had administered almost 11.0 doses per 100 population, while the next highest rates were 3.5 (in Bahrain) and 1.4 (in the United Kingdom). All other countries had administered less than 1 dose per 100 population.”
BioMed
While the Israeli rollout was successful, as was ours, high vaccination rates did not stop Omicron. Closing the borders and locking down controls the spread but is not sustainable. New Zealanders are still unable to return home and businesses are still failing. We need to open up now.
Ardern will be forced to admit defeat. As Qimron says of the Israeli health system “it is time to admit failure”.
Israel is on its fourth jab, reaching the highest numbers of deaths and seriously ill since the start of the pandemic during the Omicron outbreak. This week their number of Covid cases started to fall, the natural curve becoming evident that they are on the downhill slide.
After hitting an all-time high in Covid cases earlier this month the Israeli Health Ministry data showed a drop in serious COVID cases on Tuesday. The Omicron wave drove Israel to a peak of 1,229 serious cases in early February, but that number fell to 974 on Tuesday after a slow in the past week. Vaccination did not prevent the highly vaccinated Israeli’s from getting sick and dying from Covid but they are on the downside of the virus curve.
On Monday, 18 people died of COVID. One third of them was vaccinated, one third was not and one third had not received a booster shot.
Haaretz
Omicron is payback for Ardern’s government and her incompetent Covid experts who refused to allow New Zealanders informed consent. It is time to do what the protesters want – end the mandates and move on. Let people choose whether to be vaccinated or not.