No wonder we are not “best in show” for vaccine rollout (to use Professor Des Gorman’s description of our government’s posturing tendencies). Being at the bottom of the OECD list is nothing to write home about. I lean towards Derek Cheng’s option of “shambles”.
I know from personal experience that some of us just do not have the star power to roll up and get the jab, as Ardern can at almost 40 years of age. She gets a pass due to her status and she is probably the last world leader to do so.
However, her reason is not leadership, or she would have had it months ago, but expediency, as she is leading a trade trip to Australia and needs to be protected but she’ll have time for only one shot.
Recently I was told by my GP that, despite applying, they do not have the authority yet to administer the vaccine but that they are still waiting to hear back from the DHB. Where have I heard that before?
They gave me the address of a vaccine centre in my regional city which they said has been doing vaccinations since May 10th. The information online for that centre said:
‘Group 3 will include people who are aged over 65 and those with underlying health conditions. Roll-out to this group will commence at the end of May. Vaccination for Group 4, which includes the remainder of the population, will commence from July’.
I did not have an appointment but, not having the fortitude to face the much-publicised, fractured online booking system, I thought I would drop in on the off chance it was quiet and they could fit me in. I was right about the quiet bit: the place was virtually empty with one man waiting and a lot of staff standing or sitting around trying to look important at 2.45 in the afternoon.
The woman told me ‘No’ they couldn’t take me (despite the clinic being as quiet as a graveyard), gave me a piece of paper with Healthline and another number on it to book and suggested if I knew anyone who could go online to book for me, that was also an option. I must have had my old and infirm, computer illiterate, look on that day.
At the risk of being very politically incorrect, I note the woman who dealt with me was a Maori. My thoughts afterwards were: had I been of that ethnicity would she have turned me away? That is a rhetorical question.
Like Ardern I am a born actress and can do the drama queen routine, but kept a calm demeanour. As with all aspects of the Covid pandemic along with MIQ we know the vaccine rollout is also ‘tricky’: Ashley said so. I am prepared to make allowances as I do not have any health issues and it is not urgent for me. I could have waited until the end of the day when they have been known to give vaccinations to walk-ins.
As we know, the stories of stuff-ups with online and phone bookings are legendary. If I had been quicker on the uptake I could have lied straight-faced and said I had booked online. Many have and their digital footprint has vanished into the ether, or by phone, but hasn’t been processed.
However, one thing is clear. There is a distinct lack of ability to ‘pivot’ in the Ministry of Health: something the government expects all the unemployed kiwis and poor employers screaming out for staff to do, whilst they continue to plod along from one disaster to another.
This experience got me thinking, how inconvenient and downright scary it must be for people who really need the jab for their health’s sake and have been turned away by health care workers who are following the Ministry of Health’s unclear, disjointed instructions. We have seen many of these examples thanks to intrepid Michael Morrah, the only real investigative journalist in New Zealand.
With 2½ years until the next election, it would work well for Ardern if they could keep this vaccine roll out on the down low and drag it into 2023, thereby keeping us a captive (literally) audience for her run up to the next election. ‘All style and no substance’ might be able to fool just about all of the people all of the time, again!
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