Team of five million no more

For the first time since the start of the Covid19 pandemic, the team of five million will split as the Government introduces restrictions affecting those who choose to stay unvaccinated. Nadine Porter looks at what life will be like for the 342,000 unvaccinated Kiwis under the traffic light system.

Using an unidentified number on a crackly line, two anonymous callers spill what their life will look like from early next month.

One of these callers who contacted The Press out of her own volition – but refused to reveal her name – detailed how her decision not to be vaccinated has meant she has lost her cleaning business.

She says she is stockpiling at home ahead of the introduction of restrictions that will see her freedom curtailed.

The other speaks confidently about a burgeoning underground community of people choosing not to get vaccinated, secretly networking away from public eyes.

As they talk, it becomes clear these secret phone calls will become a part of their daily life as they find covert connections with sympathetic people and businesses.

It seems to be an organised community outside of New Zealand’s vaccination bubble, using private social media platforms to share information of sympathetic hairdressers, beauty salons and gyms willing to break the law to serve the unvaccinated.

Because come December 3, those that choose not to be vaccinated will face restrictions on attending gatherings, won’t be able to use close contact businesses, and eating out will be reduced to takeaways.

It is a historical change, marking the divide of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s ‘‘team of five million’’ as the Government looks to get the 8 per cent still to be vaccinated over the line.

Two million vaccination passes were allocated this week in preparation for the next phase of the pandemic, compelling some business owners to decide if they would open their doors only to those who have been jabbed.

Either way, there will be money to be made says Margery* who tells of a Korean-owned nail salon in Auckland that has notified unvaccinated clients they will still be taking their business.

With $100 cash in their pocket for each appointment and a secret squirrel society of anti-vaxxers protecting the business from being publicly outed, the nail salon will operate underground.

Another hairdresser in the Bay of Plenty has quietly let unvaccinated clients know they will take appointments on certain days every week.

But just how tricky that tightrope will be was highlighted by a Westport hair salon this week after the owner’s social media posts were picked up by a local newspaper.

Divine Hair and Beauty said the vaccine mandate did not align with how they wanted to run their business and co-owner Emma Rodger confirmed to The Westport News they intended to open to all clients despite the risk of a fine of up to $15 000.

Soon after, Rodger refused to comment to media and the social media post was deleted.

When The Press approached a hairdresser and a beauty salon in Christchurch which had posted they would welcome the unvaccinated, their social media business pages were promptly erased overnight.

Margery alleges the traffic light system is blatant segregation but says losing the ability to go to a hairdresser or gym is little in the way of hardship considering many people have lost their jobs.

And it is difficult to see any restrictions getting all stragglers over the line with vaccination rates stagnating in some areas.

By December 3, it is expected that about 60,000 eligible people will remain unvaccinated in the South Island. That statistic was illustrated by three of the South Island’s lowest vaccinated areas – Karamea, Golden Bay and Takaka Hills – where the first dose rate increased by less than 1 percentage point over the past week, according to Ministry of Health data.

In a visit to Christchurch last week, Ardern said she felt access to the vaccine was still a significant contributor to the vaccine uptake but repetitive door-knocking and education would be key to getting others across the line.

‘‘We are on a road to be able to open up more and have a bit more freedom back, and it has been a tough duty, but I think they can see that what we have done has been on behalf of everyone.’’

Destiny Church senior pastor Derek Tait has been the face of Christchurch’s large Freedom Rights Coalition protests.

Pro-choice, Tait has stood by and watched as his daughter and her husband have struggled in the aftermath of their decision not to get vaccinated.

With a baby on the way, and just signing up to their first house, Tait says the couple stand to lose it all.

But despite the hardship, the couple remain pro-choice and will not get the vaccine. ‘‘It is tragic.’’

Tait says he knows many people who have lost their income and that was causing huge impacts in their communities.

The ongoing mental health stress that those that chose to be unvaccinated faced, would outweigh fatalities from the pandemic in New Zealand, he says, ‘‘in what is going to be a very dark time for people’’.

Most pro-choice people he met distrusted anything the Government mandated.

‘‘Everyone is in between a rock and a hard place. Businesses face horrendous fines or being closed down. I understand having compassion and the real meaning of kindness towards them. Personally, I don’t hold anything against them.’’

Social scientist Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw says the more people feel they have been backed into a corner, the more they will stay entrenched in their views.

Logic, she says, does not primarily drive how people make decisions. Research she undertook on Covid-19 vaccination with Australian colleagues found that people’s worries about vaccination come from many places.

The stories and questions posed by people who actively deny the efficacy of vaccines have been designed to engage our ‘‘fearful brain’’ – the automatic flight or fight response. ‘‘When these stories are frequently repeated across social and mainstream media, they can interact with a bad experience with a healthcare worker or our fear of needles.’’

While it seems illogical that people would reject the tool that would help get us out of the pandemic because of false stories, emotions and experiences, we need to understand that people are not motivated by scientific argument, she says.

When dealing with family or friends that were against getting vaccinated we need to listen without judgment and offer reassurance.

‘‘What people need is connection and care, and to hear that from other people who they feel have their best interests at heart.’’

Berentson-Shaw believes there will be about 5 per cent of the population that will not budge their stance on getting vaccinated but there is hope for those on the periphery. ‘‘Never forget that vaccinating is the right thing to do.’’

As it stands, the traffic light system will do little to alleviate tensions around the Covid-19 vaccine in households across the country, as illustrated by vaccinated Woolston resident Jon White.

‘‘[The vaccine] has caused the most division since the Springbok tour. It is dividing families, including my own. The conversation is just banned in the house now. It is the only way we can control it.’’

For Margery, December 3 will change little on her anti-vaccination stance but lots on her view of New Zealand’s team of 5 million.

‘‘It is going to be interesting.’’

‘‘Everyone is in between a rock and a hard place.’’

Derek Tait Destiny Church senior pastor and the face of Christchurch’s large Freedom Rights Coalition protests.