People line up at a Covid-19 vaccination centre in 2022. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
The head of the Covid-19 Royal Commission of Inquiry has criticised the scale of lockdowns and vaccine mandates, suggesting they were too broad and too harsh.
Epidemiologist Professor Tony Blakely says they should not be used as much or as stringently in the next pandemic.
The report from the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Covid-19 Lessons Learned is being delivered to Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden on Thursday.
Covid inquiry chair Professor Tony Blakely. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf
The inquiry came up with 39 recommendations and the findings would be made public when the report was released by the government, Blakely said.
In a media briefing to journalists, Blakely described New Zealand's pandemic response as a "game of two halves", where the country did well in the first year - but social cohesion began disintegrating after that.
Blakely said it was crucial to look at whether lockdowns and vaccine mandates were proportionate or went too far - even if it was difficult for leaders to assess that at the time.
"On that mandatory element - we really want, in the next pandemic similar to SARS-CoV-2, we really want to be in a position where we don't need to use lockdowns as much or as stringently."
He said while a majority of people were reasonably supportive of vaccines, some people were "adversely impacted" by vaccine mandates, causing them "huge pain". He said a "substantial minority" of people lost trust in public institutions due to the policy.
He said vaccine mandates should only be used where "they have a meaningful and substantive benefit" without incurring the social harms.
Mandates for frontline healthcare workers, border workers and in prisons were justifiable, he said, because these were high-risk environments where a spread of the virus could have awful consequences.
"But as far as its reach beyond that, I think we've all learnt that that has to be done very cautiously - even if the majority of the population are in the mood, in the drive, of the view that it should be happening - is that the unintended consequences or some would say, perfectly anticipatable consequences for the minority are major - and they should be considered."
A deserted central Auckland during a 2021 lockdown. Photo: RNZ / John Edens
Blakely, along with economist John Whitehead, heard from 1600 people, held 400 meetings throughout the country and read through 13,000 submissions covering other topics such as vaccine procurement and rollout, the economic and social response from central governments and the communities, as well as managed isolation.
He said there was a diversity of opinions on the pandemic response, including over the closing of the international border, which caused "huge pain and loss".
"For some people that pain and loss was not warranted, for other people that pain and loss was understandable, given the need to protect other citizens," Blakely said.
The inquiry also looked toward a future pandemic, including how resilient the country's current health system is, and what needs to be planned now to effectively deal with one.
He said the country needed to have a viable public health workforce to undertake things like contact tracing - and to be able to scale that up quickly.
"I don't think any country is ideally prepared [for the next pandemic] at the moment. I would be concerned if I was in a country that was cutting back its public health services ... at the moment, as to the capacity you have in the system."
'Let's get it out there'
Blakely will step down as chair on Thursday and Grant Illingworth KC will take over for Phase 2 of the Inquiry - which has expanded terms of reference - from Friday.
The government decided to create a second phase, as both the ACT-National and New Zealand First-National coalition agreements included commitments to extend the scope of the Inquiry.
He would not comment on whether he thought another phase was necessary, but said the next phase may be able to look deeper into subjects like vaccine harms.
But he said there was no need to hold onto his recommendations until the next phase of the inquiry wraps up in 2026, because they can and should be implemented as soon as possible.
"The next pandemic may not be far away, and we need to get on to preparing."
It's not yet clear when the minister will release the first phase report. Brooke van Velden did not respond to RNZ's interview requests and questions about it.
Blakely said there was no reason to hold on to the report, and it was ready to go once he delivered it on Thursday afternoon.
He encouraged the minister to release the report immediately after it was received.
"For Phase 2 to be maximally useful to the New Zealand taxpayer, you want to build on Phase 1 - so let's get it out there."
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