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Journalist and staunch anti-vaxxer dies of virus

George Block The vaccines designed to protect New Zealanders from Covid-19 are the subject of rumour, suspicion and misinformation. Read more of The Whole Truth at stuff.co.nz.

A well-known Pukekohe newspaper editor who steadfastly refused to get vaccinated has died of Covid-19.

Rex Warwood, 80, succumbed to the virus in Auckland’s North Shore Hospital on Saturday.

Warwood was for many years a reporter and editor for the Franklin County News in Pukekohe and later the owner of the Franklin Life, where he is remembered fondly by many in the community.

His long-time colleague and friend Steve Burr spoke to Stuff on Monday evening to pay tribute to Warwood.

Burr said Warwood had latterly become steadfastly opposed to vaccination and had downplayed the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘‘He was a lively soul. Basically, Rex was a very stubborn, very opinionated man, and unfortunately for Rex one of the things he was very, very vocal on, and if you search Facebook you can find this ... but he actually said, ‘I don’t know why everyone’s pandering to this pandemic, what pandemic?’ That was his viewpoint, his was very much a stance of anti-vax.’’

Burr rang Warwood on November 8 to wish him a happy 80th birthday. ‘‘He was driving from

Northcote down to Pukekohe and Franklin [to

see friends], he’d do that trip three or four times per week. He certainly wasn’t a frail old man, he was as active as the day was long.’’

Burr believes Warwood caught Covid on one of those recent trips, to visit a friend’s brother, with whom he shared a birthday.

He went to the home of a person whose wife’s son had recently attended a funeral in Heights Park cemetery, in Pukekohe, along with a number of Covid cases.

Burr said Warwood’s brush with a Covid case did not faze him. ‘‘Because of his belief system he said, ‘No, I’ll be fine, nothing wrong with me.’ Then he went home and a few days later, I rang him. On the other end of the phone he was coughing and spluttering like crazy. I said, ‘You’ve not had the vaccine, I know you haven’t.’

‘‘And he said, ‘‘You’re not sticking that s... in me.’ He basically said to me, ‘I’ve got an immune system, have you never heard of one of those?’’’

His condition worsened, and he was taken to North Shore Hospital on Thursday evening. Two days later, he died on the ward.

National News

en-nz

2021-12-01T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-01T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://stuff.pressreader.com/article/281698323024754

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