Not all prepared for another pandemic, inquiry told

Otago Daily Times

11-07-2025

By Victor Waters of RNZ
The week-long Royal Commission of Inquiry into the government's Covid-19 response has finalised its first session of public hearings in Auckland.
The inquiry aimed to look at lessons learned from the government response in order to prepare for future pandemics.
Friday's fifth and final day of evidence in Auckland included testimonies from mandated industries, nursing and midwifery sectors and researchers.
Autism New Zealand research and advocacy adviser Lee Patrick said today the impacts on disability support staff for the autistic community were still being felt.
Patrick said while there were some resignations due to the mandate, other staff left due to the pressures of childcare and lockdown.
However, she said Autism New Zealand was in favour of vaccine mandates.
"Where I think the vaccine mandate did hit quite hard was disability support workers - and that's because there weren't enough to begin with.
"It's an understaffed area. The few disability support workers that chose to resign or who couldn't keep their jobs after refusing to be vaccinated had an enormous impact.
"These are people who work intimately with disabled people - [they] come into their homes, in some cases help them bath and use the toilet, in other cases help them cook meals and clean their homes - it's a very close relationship.
"Losing that relationship particularly for an autistic person or a person who struggles to communicate, who relies on that predictability and routine is an enormous blow."
Patrick said many in the community wanted exemptions for their support workers and were willing to accept the risk of having an unvaccinated person in their home because of that important relationship.
Many of those workers who left the sector during the pandemic had not returned, she said.
Johnny Mulheron, general manager of ambulance operations for Hato Hone St John, said they lost 1% of their front-line staff during the pandemic.
He said in general, most workers within the ambulance service were supportive of the vaccine and mandates.
"Prior to the mandate we have 65 percent of our people get vaccinated - that's over 8000 people.
"Our technical advisory group supported that mandate and its not unheard of in health to have vaccination and immunisation evidence... we have a policy and immunisation schooled and an expectation."
St John had since re-engaged with the majority of those people who had left because of the mandates, he said.
But others within the health sector issued warnings to the commissioners.
Anne Daniels, president of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, said they were not prepared should another pandemic hit.
She said she had concerns around resourcing levels in public health, especially considering there were suggestions within the sector another pandemic could arise in the coming years.
"It seems we might have a pandemic within the next two years and we're not ready for it. More recently, the funding of our health infrastructure has been decimated in my opinion - particularly in public health."
Daniels believed it could be difficult to implement findings and recommendations from this inquiry in time, considering they were not expected to be released until next year.
Claire Macdonald, of the New Zealand College of Midwives, said Health New Zealand was not prepared for the end of the vaccination mandate in September 2022, despite the government emphasising that the mandates were a temporary measure.
Macdonald said it caused the health service to be "starved unnecessarily of staff".
"There was no policy in place within Health NZ to re-employ those who had left - midwives or any other health profession - under the mandate and it was advised that so-called mandate would remain in place until a national vaccine policy was put in place.
"That was initially expected to take two to three weeks. It took nine months and there was no re-employment in just about every hospital of unvaccinated health workers until that national vaccination policy was put in place in July 2023."
Macdonald said they provided intensive support for some midwives "to be able to go back into those facilities and work as locums or contractors or anything that meant they could provide midwifery care but not be under an employment contract which is a work around and completely ridiculous".
The inquiry would continue next month in Wellington and provide a second session of public hearings.
These would gather evidence from key decision-makers who led and informed the government's response to the pandemic.