Paul (65), Prematurely Retired Thanks To C-19. Auckland, NZ.
My experience with Covid-19 was:
My wife and I monitored the international rhetoric and NZ Govt updates with the intention of being open to official information and dissenting opinions from global and local “experts”.
As time progressed it was becoming increasingly apparent that definitions such as “vaccine” were being modified to suit the narrative. In addition, media, media personalities, “influencers” were parroting the government narrative with no consideration of people expressing counter views.
Any person or organisation expressing a contrary opinion was belittled and targeted by the government and their supporters. A dissenting voice was not tolerated.
Fear was being pushed by the government through misleading modelling indicating that many thousands of people would die in NZ if we did not do everything the government espoused. This narrative was enthusiastically being parroted by media across New Zealand.
The PM publicly stated there would be no mandating of vaccines. This changed and the government rolled out vaccine mandates, vaccine passports and a traffic light system and knowingly created a two tier society in NZ, the vaccinated and the unvaccinated.
Our decision not to get vaxxed led us to be ostracised by the community at large. We were not able to participate in a normal society. We were banned from restaurants, cafes, cinemas, hair dressers and family events. Once the trans Tasman travel was reopened, I was unable to fulfil my travel obligations and had to negotiate my exit from the job I had been doing for 15 years.
Why were supermarkets able to function almost normally but small businesses couldn't. Why were outdoor infrastructure projects curtailed? Why did a mask have to be worn in a restaurant by staff but not by patrons sitting down?. It's been admitted that many of the restrictions imposed were designed to eliminate vaccine hesitancy and not for scientifically or medically justified reasons.
Why were dying people denied access to family support? Sporting events, weddings, funerals and hospitality restrictions were arbitrary by nature and reeked of control.
How was it possible to remove the Human Rights of people who did not agree with the Governments use of emergency powers to implement medical mandates?
Many have suffered as a direct result of the Pfizer vaccine, my family members included to varying degrees of seriousness. Yes, some say that this is unable to be proven and even confirmed vaccine related deaths have been challenged by the medical fraternity but I believe there has been sufficient safety signals registered in NZ and globally that the data needs to be released and examined transparently.
In closing, the covid related events in NZ from 2020 through 2023 have changed our lives forever. Social division in NZ has never been at a lower point. It drove a wedge between some families, mine included, that can probably never be redeemed. My wife and I are law abiding citizens in our 60's but we were stripped of our rights, labelled as conspiracy theorists, ostracised by our families and I lost my job. Why? Because I did not want to take an experimental drug. The fear generated by government and media into coercing people to take a medical procedure was unfounded and verging on criminal in nature.
