Ministry of Health chief executive and Health Director-General Dr Ashley Bloomfield has rubbished the idea that Christians represent a majority of those who are anti-vaccine.
“I think, the first thing is perspective here. Actually, the notion that we are fractured and divided suggests division that is straight down the middle. But it’s not,” he told participants of the Winter Lecture Number 3 arranged by the New Zealand Christians in Science via Zoom on November 10.
“There are some churches that are quite visible in the sort of public anti-vaccination korero, but there are many, many churches that are not, that are very positive about, and are very supportive of, (vaccination),” he said.
Dr Bloomfield said that, back in the first lockdown, the Government would do weekly surveys of the public’s response to Covid-19. The results of the survey would show more than 90 per cent support for the Government’s initiatives through lockdown and even after lockdown.
“Let’s fast forward to today. If we perhaps take the take-up of the vaccine as a proxy for people’s trust and confidence in the vaccine, and the importance of it in our ongoing collective response as a country, we find that we’re approaching the take-up rate that match that level of public trust and confidence early in the pandemic,” he said.
Dr Bloomfield said that the vaccination rates for people aged 65 and over are even higher.
“It’s in the mid-90s (per cent), which is wonderful, because this is the group that we know is the most likely to get a poor outcome if they do get Covid,” he said.
Dr Bloomfield said that, according to their latest survey, those who are very adamant against the Pfizer vaccine, or any other vaccine, make up less than five per cent of those surveyed. He explained that this figure is identical to those who do not vaccinate their children.
“I bet if you polled churchgoing people and people of Christian faith within the country, you would find that their vaccine take-up rates would very closely mirror those of our broader society,” he said.
In fact, Dr Bloomfield said he had received many letters of support and calls from leaders of various Christian denominations. He thanked the leaders for their support.
Dr Bloomfield also observed that the countries with the highest uptake of the vaccine in Europe are Ireland and Portugal, countries which are largely Catholic.
“So, I don’t think that public korero is as fractured as it might appear, and I think many people recognise that. I also don’t think that necessarily the Church or Christians are over-represented amongst those who are opposing the vaccine,” he said.
“I think that those opposing the vaccine are represented by a whole range of people from across our society, culturally and different faiths and different belief systems and so on.”
Dr Bloomfield said he realises that there will be “this difference between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated”, but insisted that the employment of vaccine certificates would be “hugely empowering” for the people.
“What vaccination will allow us, including as we move into the new traffic light protection framework, is the opportunity for many, many people to gather together inside, and for other ways to continue gathering everybody,” he said.
Dr Bloomfield said that the new traffic light protection will give “far more reliability” to meet face-to-face than alert levels four or three allow.
“It’s hugely enabling, even at a time when we know the virus is still in our community. We do know this is another step on a journey, and things will change just as they have to date. This just provides some options for us,” he explained.
During his talk, Dr Bloomfield said he grew up in a Baptist Church in Tawa and went to a Presbyterian school. He goes to an Anglican church, although he admitted that he hadn’t been to church in a while. He said his four children all went to a Catholic school.
Dr Bloomfield said that the early part of his life deeply anchored in him Christian values and beliefs such as kindness and humility, which have served him well during the pandemic response.
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