Matt Cowley: We need to vaccinate to get our freedoms back

I had my first Covid-19 vaccine shot on Friday. I was in one of the last groups to be able to book my vaccine pre-September 1 as I'm still hanging on to my thirties.

The process at Life Pharmacy on Devonport Road was incredibly easy, and I had a good chat with the others while we waited 15 minutes to ensure we didn't have a reaction.

The friendly staff said most vaccination sites now have lots of spots available, as New Zealand finally has large stockpiles of vaccine doses.

The staff also mentioned that there have been a lot of no-shows — possibly because people are not updating their bookings online if they get an earlier spot elsewhere.

Since coming out of August's alert level 4, I have found that more people fear the Government's hard lockdowns than the risks of catching the virus itself.

Open up the latest news from Bay of Plenty

Get daily Bay of Plenty headlines straight to your inbox.

Please email me competitions, offers and other updates. You can stop these at any time.

Email address

Sign Up

By signing up for this newsletter, you agree to NZME’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

The recent announcement regarding locations of interest in Tauranga caused a lot of anxiety for local business owners because last time we went into lockdown within hours of the announcement.

THE BIG BOOST THE BIG BOOST CLICK FOR FULL DATA

5-11yo12yo+All

People aged 5+:

Active cases:

It's clear that we need a new strategy as the psychological and economic costs of the Government's hard and blunt lockdowns are beginning to outweigh the benefits.

As with other countries, the primary way to avoid lockdowns — and to reconnect with a re-emerging world — is to get vaccinated.

Our 90 per cent vaccination target will be hard to reach as there are a number of people who cannot receive the vaccine for genuine health reasons.

There are also some vaccine sceptics out there. I've realised my harsh approach with sceptics or friends sharing anti-vaccine propaganda on social media isn't the right approach either.

Many are caught in a vortex, especially on social media where the app wants to keep you engaged to sell more adverts, so they show more of what they think you want to see. Social media is essentially like pokie machines.

I love social media memes, but for entertainment purposes only. I don't receive my factual information from memes, as they're nearly always fake news. But telling sceptics that they're wrong isn't going to change their minds.

If you know someone who is on the fence about vaccinations, please encourage them to speak with a trusted, and qualified health professional.

- Matt Cowley is the chief executive of the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce.