By Gregg Wycherly.

The Ministry is believed to be seeking urgent advice today from the Crown Law Office and the Public Services Commission in light of Friday’s landmark High Court court ruling striking down the vaccine mandate imposed on Police and Defence Force staff.

It’s believed that around 300 staff face termination beginning this week, about 3 months after the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) began informing unvaccinated employees that they could either accept the Covid-19 vaccinations, or lose their jobs.

Justice Francis Cooke determined in a judicial review that the government mandate is unlawful, and an unjustified incursion on the Bill of Rights. The court found that the mandate infringed Police and Defence staff rights to decline a medical procedure and the right to religious freedom.

The MSD terminations have not been mandated by the Government, but are part of an internal policy which was outlined to staff in November and December last year.

The Ministry told staff they would likely face termination unless they showed proof of vaccination.

Most staff have been told that they will lose their jobs over the coming weeks, beginning as early as Tuesday March 1.

TIMELINES

Monday 29 November, 2021: Consultation on Policy began

Wed 8 December, 2021: 5pm consultation closed

Thursday 16 December, 2021: Policy announced

Friday 7 January 22: All staff must have given proof of vaccination status Monday 10 January 22; Unvaxxed or undeclared staff must work from home

Thursday 3 Feb: All staff must have made ‘preferred option for working’ submission to manager

3 Feb- 18 Feb: Submissions ‘moderated’ by Leadership Team

19 Feb-21 Feb: All unjabbed staff given preliminary notices of termination by Tier 3 managers

Up to 28 Feb: Staff had 5 business days to give any further information that might cause Tier 3 Manager to change their mind

Feb 28, 2022: We are hearing that some of the affected staff have been given extensions to provide more medical evidence. Some staff who had “termination meetings” scheduled for today have been informed that the meetings are postponed till later in the week.

Staff were informed that MSD is required to “take all reasonably practicable steps” to minimise the risk of harm arising from COVID-19 (and any variants), including its transmission in the workplace.

Also, that vaccination was required in order to reduce disruption to MSD services, and reduce transmission to the “wider community, including our clients”.

MSD says the decision is based “primarily on the formal risk assessment conducted with input from employees and employee representatives”.

It is understood that the MSD leadership team running the terminations is headed by Melissa Gill, Deputy Chief Executive Organisational Assurance and Communication.

Ms Gill has not responded to requests for comment as of the time of writing.

One staff member familiar with the situation, who did not wish to be named, says the Ministry has virtually ignored submissions from employees, and has not engaged meaningfully with employee representatives.

This was an internal policy decision, made by nine unelected officials, and based on a flimsy risk assessment and no data.

“Employees had requested, on February 2 and before, that given this is a rapidly shifting environment both medically and politically, that they pause the implementation of the policy for a few months and allow people to work from home while we see what happens.

“They declined that request and insisted they must act decisively. Why, we asked?  Where was the risk? We received no response.”

Many of the staff affected have health issues which is making them fearful of adverse effects from the vaccines, but it seems MSD is not allowing any leeway or compromise.

It’s “my way or the highway”, as one employee commented.

Ranjana Andrew has worked for MSD for two years.

She has a number of pre-existing medical conditions, and recently some new health issues have arisen which are still undergoing investigation.

Staff were told that only official Ministry of Health exemptions would be accepted, but it is not clear whether any exemptions for MSD staff have been successful.

Only one of the doctors she consulted is willing to put in writing that she is not a suitable candidate for vaccination. She thinks most doctors are afraid to submit vaccine exemption applications.

“Unfortunately that’s what NZ has come to. Doctors’ licences are being stripped, any GP who dares to have a different narrative from the Ministry of Health narrative finds himself in trouble, risking losing his licence.”

She feels that MSD staff are being forced to choose between keeping their jobs, or risking their health by accepting unwanted medical intervention.

We are pushed into a corner so you either take the vaccine or you lose your job. A job that you are passionate about, a job that you signed up for because of your love to serve the community, a job that will put food on the table for you and your family.

“It’s their way or the highway, take it or leave it.”

Mrs Andrew, as with so many of the people losing their jobs due to vaccine mandates, is under extreme mental pressure, which only adds to her problems.

She says she’s been through a roller coaster of emotions which have impacted her mental and physical health.

“I feel like I’m a criminal and I’m being prosecuted for something I haven’t done.

“It is morally so incorrect because who is to decide what goes into my body. Do I decide? Or is it for Jacinda to decide what goes into my body? Or for my leadership

team to decide?

“Since when did they become my personal GP and my medical experts?”

She sees the Government’s actions as divisive, harmful to society, and degrading to our democracy.

They have split our society into two and I never thought I would live to see a day like this in a democracy. Is this an inclusive society as Jacinda has been saying

“I know so many people  who caved in to pressure and took the vaccine. Now can Jacinda Ardern or the Government begin to imagine how much anger and how much hurt these people are carrying?”

She rejects the accusation of being an “anti-vaxxer”, as she and her family have all had the regular childhood vaccinations.

But not this one, which is a trial vaccine at this stage, that is my biggest concern. Why are we being forced to take something we do not want?

And she questions the efficacy of vaccines against the Omicron variant, when the vast majority of those being hospitalised are vaccinated.

“If you look at the figures of the people hospitalised in NZ at the moment, well over 90% are vaccinated.”

“So what is the vaccine really doing, is it serving its purpose? If it has done what it’s supposed to do, why do we still have the mandates?

Sarah Cilliers has worked for MSD for nine years, her current role as a case manager in Waikato.

She and her husband have five children, aged between 2 and 17, and the loss of her job will have severe repercussions for the family’s finances.

“We’ve been working hard to buy our own house, but that’s absolutely on the back burner now, there’s just no way.

“I live with my mother in law, and we’ve been saving for the last year to get ahead and this just sets us right back.”

She says her older kids are allowed to make their own decisions about whether to get vaccinated or not, and one of them had chosen to do so.

But she was upset that her employers are not giving her that same right, despite having heart conditions that had often sent her to hospital.

“I felt it was too much of a risk for me at this point, I couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t make those things worse or trigger something even worse than that, so no vaccines for me.”

The family can not afford life insurance, and she fears that if the vaccinations did trigger a health relapse that proved fatal, her children would face even greater hardship than the loss of her income.

“I do fear that I would die, and having five kids I just couldn’t do that to them, I definitely can’t take that risk.

“However, financial hardship until other work comes along is far better than financial hardship without my income and then my kids losing their mum. So those seemed to me like the two options I was facing.”

She has asked her GP about applying for an exemption, but was told there was no chance of success. She thinks doctors are afraid of losing their jobs or practising certificates if they submit vaccine exemption applications.

Mrs Cilliers says that after almost a decade of devoted service to MSD, and to NZ, the news that she was going to lose her job because she fears the vaccines came as a “kick in the guts”.

“I have wholeheartedly dedicated the last nine years to supporting MSD’s values and upholding their values within the community.”

She says MSD’s blanket “vaccinate or terminate” policy is indicative of the hardline direction Jacinda Ardern’s government is taking.

“When ever in history has a one-size fits all policy worked, in any society around the world? I am no longer proud to be a Kiwi and living in this country.

“I don’t like to ruffle anyone’s feathers, I sort of make my decisions and sit quietly with them because I’m comfortable, but this is something that I can’t sit quietly about.”

She says she now regrets voting for Jacinda Ardern, and would retract her vote if she could.

“This has gone too far and most of it is not even logical anymore.

I am no longer proud to be an avid Labour supporter. I have always been a Labour supporter and now there is no way that I would ever vote for them again.

Lynda Whitlow has worked at MSD for 9 years as an administration officer in Canterbury. She was told three months ago to get vaccinated, or face termination.

She has not yet definitively refused vaccination, and is asking to continue working from home to allow her more time to consider her options.

As with many of the MSD staff who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19, Ms Whitlow suffers from multiple health conditions. She is disabled, suffering from severely reduced lung function caused by inhaling black mould spores in an earthquake damaged house.

Ms Whitlow also suffered severe allergic reactions to childhood vaccinations, and was advised by specialists as a child to avoid all vaccinations in future.

Her current GP, although sympathetic to her concerns around the Pfizer vaccine, would not apply for a Covid-19 vaccine exemption for her, because it would have been doomed to rejection.

“It’s not a choice for me. I have always reacted adversely to vaccinations since I was a child.

“My GP was upset she couldn’t ask for an exemption for me, she said, ‘I’m not trying because you don’t fit their narrow criteria.’”

Ms Whitlow believes most GPs are simply too afraid to apply for Covid 19 vaccine exemptions, despite their patients’ health needs, because they fear persecution from health authorities.

“It’s an unspoken thing, fear, for medical practitioners, and it’s just bloody awful.”

She says her job description doesn’t require her to work from an office, and she has been working from home successfully since last August.

But there seems to be a blanket policy of vaccination or termination, with no other options considered.

She says it will be very difficult for her to find another job, and since her current role allows her to be productive in a work from home capacity, she can’t understand why there is no flexibility or middle ground.

“My message to them is, keep me productive. I work for the government to work for the people. Let me keep doing my job, don’t make me a statistic.”

Ms Whitlow says if she is fired tomorrow, she’ll soon be returning to one of her places of work anyway. To apply for a benefit through Work and Income – a service of MSD.

Please don’t be so bloody cruel – consider the ramifications you are creating for people like me who will be beneficiaries again.

“I can walk into my old office as a client, I can’t walk in there as an employee.”

Deb Smith has worked for MSD for almost four years, currently as a Processing Officer in the Bay of Plenty.

She was diagnosed with kidney cancer in March 2020, but has continued to work from home, as much as her health permits.

Ms Smith received her preliminary letter of termination on Sunday February 20, and has been told she will be terminated on March 31.

She has already undergone surgery to remove one of her kidneys, but still faces further operations and a long road to recovery. Because she has to undergo another major operation for cancer, she has decided “vaccination poses more risks than benefits to me”.

She says the MSD leadership team are not doctors and are not qualified to judge whether or not she should be vaccinated.

“The leadership team nor the health and safety team undertaking the risk assessment are medically qualified to make any such decision on my behalf or on the behalf of other people.”

Ms Smith has provided a letter from a doctor attesting that she is not suitable for vaccination, but this has been rejected by MSD.

She has been told that only an official MoH exemption will be considered.

However, her research from Medsafe indicates there is a known risk of kidney injury from the Covid-19 vaccines, and considering she now only has one kidney, she feels justified in refusing vaccination.

It is reported that there have been 22 people with acute kidney injury from the vaccination and because I only have one kidney and now cancer in my body again I do not want to risk my remaining kidney.

“I should not be made to choose my job or my kidney.  When you will not consider the health risk of an individual because you want everyone to be vaccinated, then I question the integrity, honesty, compassion and good sense of the leadership team.”

She says the assessment process had a predetermined outcome of termination.

“That has been made very clear.  Even though the policy stated that termination would be the last resort.

“This has not been followed and vaccination was always the sole purpose of this policy, regardless of anyone’s situation. The assessment process has been a farce and a butt-covering exercise by the leadership team.

Dr Bryan Betty, medical director of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, told RNZ Checkpoint that the time has come to change tack on dealing with Covid 19.

“For the last two years we’ve dealt with Covid in the sense of Delta, which is a very dangerous disease, we’ve had an elimination strategy … and I think it’s built up quite a fear or anxiety in the community about Covid.

“However, in the last four to five weeks, the situation has changed dramatically with Omicron, which is not Delta – it’s much more like a common cold, flu-like illness. And I think we need to move into a space very rapidly of thinking we’re going to live with this and get back to some sort of normality.

“We need to be de-escalating this down to get into a position where most of us are just going to have a mild to moderate illness, that we’re going to get through like any respiratory illness in winter, and we need to be moving on, and perhaps the way we’re approaching it at the moment is causing more problems than good, and we may have reached a pivot point with that.”

Dr Betty says he is also concerned that Covid-19 is putting restrictions on things like healthcare programmes, influenza and childhood immunisation rates.  He also has stated that preventative cancer screening and looking after chronic diseases are really starting to be compromised.