Dr Guy Hatchard: Effective Responses to Pandemics and Peace Are Not Far Removed From Each Other

My experience as an educator has taught me that change begins within. It is our inner experience that enables us to gain perspective, to re-evaluate and change gear. This is the need of our time.

This point was forcibly driven home for me this week when I read the “New Zealand Pandemic Plan: A Framework For Action.” This document has just been published by Health New Zealand laying out New Zealand policy in the event that WHO declares another pandemic. It is a prime example of an aspiring cabal of policy wonks stuck in the past, unable to change gear and move forward. For 211 pages the document rambles on rubber stamping all the mistakes of the Covid pandemic response. It dictates that in the near future, we will do it all again—lockdowns, masks, vaccines, antivirals, mandates, social distancing, isolation, school and business closures, and censorship of media content.