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 was among the first to speak today.
She said the impacts on disability support staff for New Zealand’s 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 the 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 choose 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, 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.
She said many of those workers who left the sector during the pandemic have not returned.
Johnny Mulheron, general manager of ambulance operations for Hato Hone St John, said the service lost 1% of their front-line staff during the pandemic.
He said, in general, most workers within St John were supportive of the vaccine and the mandates.
“Prior to the mandate, we have 65% 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.”
He said St John had since re-engaged with the majority of those people who had left because of the mandates.
Health sector unprepared for another pandemic
But others within the health sector issued warnings to the commissioners.
The New Zealand Nurses organisation president Anne Daniels said they were not prepared should another pandemic hit.
Daniels said she had concerns around resourcing levels in public health, especially considering there were suggestions within the health 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 said it could be difficult to implement findings and recommendations from this inquiry in time, considering they’re not expected to be released until next year.
Claire Macdonald of the New Zealand College of Midwives said Health NZ wasn’t prepared for the end of the vaccination mandate in September 2022.
She said this was despite the government emphasising 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 the college 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 workaround and completely ridiculous”.
The inquiry would continue next month in Wellington and provide a second session of public hearings.
These hearings would gather evidence from key decision makers who led and informed the government’s response to the pandemic.
By Victor Waters for rnz.co.nz
