The Whānau Ora commissioning agency has taken the Ministry of Health to court to force them to hand over contact details for unvaccinated Māori.
They want to know who hasn’t got the jab, so they can call them up and tell them the vaxi bus is on its way to give them the jab if they want it.
Good idea?
Absolutely great idea.
The entire region of Auckland is in lockdown which means the rest of the country is in Level 2 because we’re waiting for unvaccinated people to get the jab and get us over 90 per cent.
So you bet this is a good idea.
Will the Ministry of Health hand the data over?
No.
Why not?
“Privacy laws,” says Chris Hipkins.
Now let me ask you this: which right is more important to you right now?
The right to freedom of movement or privacy rights?
The right to open your business and put food on the table for your kids and not lose your house because you’re in debt up to your eyeballs or privacy rights?
The right to Kiwis stuck overseas to come home once the jab rate is high enough or privacy rights?
We are infringing on rights every single minute of every single day for the last 18 months.
We have given police permission to enter people’s homes and make sure they’re sticking to lockdown rules which is a huge violation of rights.
We’re preventing movement, we’re preventing Kiwis coming home, we’re preventing businesses opening, we are even about to prevent people from retaining jobs unless they get the jab.
And on the hierarchy of rights that I care about infringing on right now.
Privacy is dead last.
So the Ministry of Health needs to get out of its own way and hand over that data.
Heather du Plessis-Allan is a journalist and commentator who hosts Newstalk ZB's Drive show.
12 comments:
Heather - you seem fine with removing ALL rights.
Just remember - the 90% vaccination target is not some immovable law of nature which must be reached and over which we have no control. It is an arbitrary target set by our government, who display divisiveness, ineptness and incompetence in virtually everything they attempt so why would they be right in this?
Throughout your article you use the term "We" when talking about the rights that we have given up. There's no "We" about it. It's "They" you should be using. They, the government who have unilaterally made all these decisions to remove all these rights and impose all these restrictions.
You really need to be careful what you wish for and what you wish for the rest of us. Definitely not YOUR finest hour. One of YOUR poorest articles I have to say!
DeeM, well said it is 'they' who are doing this in denying our rights, not 'we' who are giving our rights up. Every right that is taken and denied is a loss, and as more go, do not expect this to be a solution to get them back.
Heather ...what will you do when they come for you?
You have got it right Heather. The right to privacy needs to be weighed up against against the right of the population to be safe.
Sorry Dee - you are wrong.
You are on the money Heather,sorry but I think you've misunderstood Dee.
Whilst on the subject of privacy,do we think that the Cindy will come clean on who the covid border breaker was up north?The judges son and his lawyer girlfriend were outed pretty quickly when they went to Wanaka and the lefty media had a field day with exposing them.What's the bet the alleged sex worker,her partner in crime and the gang associates retain their anonymity.
Doug you like Heather have succumbed to the fear porn being spread by the Gummint and the Main Stream Media.
Why do we have rights? So hysterical governments and their shepple dont take them away on a wim.
Just check around. Sweden didnt take away rights, large chunks of the US didnt take away rights.
If you want to get vaxed and wear a mask thats fine.
If you dont, thats fine too.
I chose to get double jabbed twice (overseas and NZ) at 75 Yo, I dont subscribe to the fear porn. Personally dont care if anyone getting close to me isnt jabbed.
Remember jabs are about protecting YOU. Dont buy in to the fiction known as saving Granny. If you are worried about Granny, get Granny to get jabbed.
Unfortunately there has been no reputable study that says wearing masks will save YOU from getting covid.
Doug
You've obviously been vaccinated. So have I, as it happens.
For months now, we have had a relentless Maori and Pacifika pro-vaccination advertising campaign on TV and radio; you can get the vaccine at your local pharmacy; you may even get a free brekkie out of it. Most would think that this would be enough to convince those in favour of vaccination to get it.
Releasing lists of private information on whether people are vaccinated or not so they can be contacted directly and pressured is a step too far in my opinion.
It's a further erosion of rights in a country which is seeing all too much of this kind of thing. Where do you draw the line - everyone will have their own view? You certainly have to draw it somewhere.
Is it too much of a stretch to imagine these "private lists" appearing on social media in an area near you so that the vaccinated can identify the unvaccinated. Hard to think of any good outcomes from something like this.
I have to agree with DeeM, it is not the unvaccinated who are restricting our freedom, it is the government insisting that we need 90% vaccinated first. Why? Getting vaccinated apparently doesn't prevent the virus spreading - if it did, we wouldn't be locking new arrivals who have been vaccinated in MIQ for two weeks would we?? So the purpose of the vaccine is simply to protect people from getting sick. If they don't want to be protected, that's surely up to them. Now some might say that we need the higher vax rate to protect the health system from being overrun. I suspect that what we actually need it for is to protect Jacinda's credibility.
Journalists fighting against the rights of the people? We've officially gone past mass hysteria and into hatred.
COVID-19 has a 99.99x survival rate for anyone below the age of 50. The problem is not a virus. It is the Government approach to dealing with health issues. "We are infringing on rights every single minute of every single day for the last 18 months." <-- this is the problem.
I appreciate that you are sick of the current situation Heather, but you are to blame for it. When are you going to start standing up for the rights of the people against a totalitarian response to an overblown non-crisis.
For the information of Chris Hipkins, and some of the bloggers on this topic:-
The rules for retention and distribution of private health information are contained in the Health Information Privacy Code 2020.
This document lays out in great detail the restrictions on the handling of health information. It is a legal document, and describes how the Privacy Act is to be applied regarding health information.
The Code specifically DOES permit private health information to be passed on to health care workers in the situation where…
“ it is either not desirable or not practicable to obtain
authorisation from the individual concerned and—
(d) that the disclosure of the information is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious
threat to—
(i) public health or public safety “
This is specifically the type of situation that applies in a pandemic, and the Code was written specifically to allow private health information to be disclosed or passed on in these situations.
I know this, because I was in a position to administer this part of the Code in a previous employment with Medicines Control, Ministry of Health.
The point here is that Hipkins must have known about this Code.
So why was he making pathetic, and incorrect excuses for not passing the essential information on to the health care workers ?
The vaccination has been offered to all and it is their choice to take it or not. Set a cut off date and open the country up let us get on with our lives. there now covid antibody treatments coming on board will the useless govt please buy them If you are afraid - stay home wash your hands wear a mask - why lock up the healthy?
HDPA view is based on the premise that the vaccine is perfect. But we (I mean we and they) know very well that it is not. Its efficacy is restricted and its power wanes. We need more weapons against covid than just lockdowns or vaccination. Where is a special MIQ facility, new Hospital wards for covid patients, were are well paid doctors and nurses that could have been invited, where are treatments that proved to work, where is the information for those who chatch the virus about the effective treatment before they get to the hospitals like publicly cursed Ivermectinon, where is propaganda of vitamins C, D, Zinc, enough sleep, being outside as much as possible? Why we cannot watch on TV1 or 3 the debates of clinical doctors, researchers round the world who work with patients, with medicines, with vaccines and can persuade those hesitant, where is unbiased information about how Delta variant is really deadly, where is the unbiased information about the side effects of the vaccine and for whom specifically it is not recommended, and we can go on and on.
To blame people for the failures of this incompetent Government and to divided into vaccinated against unvaccinated is just shame and we should refuse to play their game.
Alexandra Corbett Dekanova (mind you, I am fully vaccinated).
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