Commissioners also say the vaccine requirements eroded public trust and call for investment to plan for the next pandemic

Summary

New Zealand’s royal commission into its Covid-19 response found vaccine mandates were reasonable based on available data but acknowledged they harmed social cohesion.

The report praised the country’s elimination strategy for achieving one of the lowest Covid death rates among developed nations while preventing healthcare system collapse.

However, it criticized prolonged lockdowns, weak health system preparedness, and a lack of planning for future crises.

Commissioners urged broad investment in pandemic readiness and emphasized the importance of both frontline and planning staff.

A second phase of the inquiry will review vaccine harms and conclude in 2026.

  • Noedel@lemmy.world
    568·
    13 hours ago

    I moved to NZ about 7 years ago and lived through this. I supported the earlier lockdowns and got the vaccine before it became mandated.

    Having said that, the mandates that the government pursued were absolutely ruthless, and put in place at a time where efficacy was already reduced due to new variants. It did a lot of harm to society, and we still live with those consequences today.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
      315·
      6 hours ago

      Having said that, the mandates that the government pursued were absolutely ruthless

      Good.

      and put in place at a time where efficacy was already reduced due to new variants.

      “Reduced” is not the same as “safe.”

      It did a lot of harm to society, and we still live with those consequences today.

      Like what? What horrible burden are you living with in New Zealand because of this?

    • kaffiene@lemmy.worldEnglish
      28·
      7 hours ago

      We had less deaths than we would have had normally. We also saved a bucket load of jobs by supporting businesses. We, objectively, did better than pretty much anyone else. What seems to continually escape people’s attention is that the NZ health system is shit. We have fuck all hospital beds and fuck all staff. Letting the virus run free would have overrun our system in days. A better health system that ours might have more options than we did, but as it was, we did bloody well.

    • MonkRome@lemmy.worldEnglish
      593·
      10 hours ago

      a lot of harm to society

      You mean one of the lowest per capital death rates of any country with transparent reporting? Explain to me how saving tens of thousands of lives in New Zealand was bad without sounding like a dickhead…

      • sambrown@lemmy.nzEnglish
        513·
        10 hours ago

        From the report:

        Contentious public health measures like vaccine mandates wore away at what had initially been a united wall of public support for the pandemic response; along with the rising tide of misinformation and disinformation, this created social fissures that have not entirely been repaired.

        • kaffiene@lemmy.worldEnglish
          241·
          7 hours ago

          Yeah, misinformation from conspiracists and right wing politicians wore at the publics resolve and found a home the hearts of other reactionaries and conspiracists. That’s the truth, but it’s not a fault of thee covid response, it’s a fault of people who view society as an enemy

          • sambrown@lemmy.nzEnglish
            713·
            10 hours ago

            In Chapter 8, the report goes on to talk about how hurting their poor little feelings debased the authority of the government and the authors offer suggestions on how to do mandates better during the next pandemic.

            • Zaktor@sopuli.xyzEnglish
              10·
              6 hours ago

              This seems to assume there was a response by the center-left government that could both be pro-social and would not be attacked by conservative douchebags. They’re not going to be impressed by a finely threaded needle, they’ll just up their ask, because reducing the popularity of their opponents is the point of conservative propaganda, not the actual policy.