One cafe owner said while some customers have respected her business's decision to closely follow the rules, she has also received abuse. Photo / NZME
Immunocompromised and at-risk Northlanders say they feel pressured to protect themselves from the wider Northland community and visitors to avoid getting seriously ill or dying of Covid-19.
The region has the lowest regional vaccination rates, with 84 per cent of the eligible population double vaccinated, compared with 91 per cent nationally.
Those who are immunocompromised or have underlying health conditions have a higher risk of developing serious complications from Covid-19 and are more susceptible to catching the virus, even if double vaccinated.
Whangārei disability advocacy organisation Tiaho Trust chief executive Jonny Wilkinson said it was an uncertain time for disabled people with underlying health issues.
"Generally speaking, people are a little anxious about what impact (Covid-19) will have."
There were several reasons Northland felt like a risky place to be as the region moved through the Christmas/New Year period.
"It's not just the border, it's a combination of being close to Auckland, being a holiday destination and having high levels of unvaccinated (people) making the virus easy to travel," he said.
Wilkinson's condition makes it difficult for him to wear a mask, and like many disabled people he has an exemption. But it means he loses another line of defence against the virus while also opening himself up to attacks from others.
"I feel self-conscious about not wearing a mask."
Anti-vaccine sentiment is strong across the region. Businesses put up posters to welcome the unvaxxed, call themselves "pro-choice" and say they "do not discriminate against Covid-19 vaccination status".
But for Wilkinson, the claims of discrimination don't hold up, and they don't make the vulnerable feel welcome.
"Those signs encourage selfishness," he said.
"Vaccination is completely different because it's very rare that people can't get (Covid-19) vaccinations on the grounds of a medical issue."
He believed Northland could currently be experiencing the calm before the Covid storm.
"When we get to mid-January, the presence of Covid-19 in Northland will be a lot more real."
For an immunocompromised Whangārei business owner, whom the Advocate has agreed not to name, her dream business has turned into a nightmare for her vulnerable family.
The woman became immunocompromised a few years ago after she caught both strains of influenza that were present in the community at the time.
"It completely destroyed my immune system. So I basically have very little to no immunity against very, very basic illnesses," she said.
Vaccines are all too familiar to her. After becoming immunocompromised she has had to get re-vaccinated for measles, mumps and rubella.
She is fully vaccinated against Covid-19, including a booster, but she has still been advised by her GP that if she catches the virus she would likely require hospitalisation and suffer from long Covid.
At the front of her mind is her vulnerable daughter, who is too young to be vaccinated and has a condition that would likely mean she would end up on dialysis if she caught Covid.
"My biggest concern is not necessarily for myself, it's catching Covid and bringing it home to my kids. That's a real fear for us.
"When it comes to something like a pandemic and my immunocompromised child, I can't protect her by myself. I'm relying on the community to help me do that and I can't do that alone" she says.
While most of her customers have respected her business's decision to closely follow the rules, she has also received abuse so severe she has installed security cameras.
"When we bought the business, we had no idea that this was going to happen. Obviously, we didn't know we were going to be in the highest-risk profession. We were just trying to be the Kiwi small business ownership dream, we certainly didn't choose any of this."
As a business owner, she understands that businesses don't want to lose money in what has already been a tough year financially, but she says describing restrictions for the unvaccinated as discrimination is a step too far.
"When I think of discrimination, I think about sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, your race, your age, things that you cannot control. Your vaccine status is something you can control. So I personally don't feel that it is."
Leonie Hona, 69, suffers from respiratory problems that put her at high risk of serious illness if she catches Covid. For her, the lockdowns have never ended.
"I feel extremely vulnerable and unsafe. I go to the shops early and only to the ones I have to go to, the chemists and the groceries. I don't go shopping for pleasure."
The gradual reduction of security guards and social distancing at these shops while Covid remains in the community upsets her, and she's found the replacement vaccine pass system is rarely implemented by Northland businesses.
"The other day I had to go to at least six different places and only one asked for my vaccine card and that makes me feel terribly unsafe."
Despite her vulnerability, Hona is not against the opening up of the Auckland border, in fact, she thinks her own community poses a greater risk.
"I think Northlanders are more of a problem than Aucklanders because they know the protocols and procedures to keep themselves safe, whereas the people up here are just too casual."
Hona says her friends who are elderly and have underlying conditions tightly restrict their socialising, even though they are vaccinated, because they do not feel safe.
"They are aware Covid would probably kill them.
"Some of us, no matter what we do, we have these conditions and they've happened without us wanting them. We haven't done anything to cause them."
Hona's conditions have denied her her own freedoms long before Covid-19, but now simple things such as meeting up with friends feel like life or death.
"Somebody came to my door, a friend and I didn't know they weren't vaccinated, otherwise they wouldn't have gotten in.
"Their whole stance was 'it's about freedom of choice', and I think when it comes to public health, there is no choice. It's about doing this for the whole community and taking the measures we need to take to protect everybody."
Whangārei GP Geoff Cunningham sees a lot of patients who are vulnerable, young and old, and says it's the people of Northland's responsibility to get vaccinated to protect them.
"I think the really important point that I want to stress is that as a society we just shouldn't look at Covid vaccination for personal reasons. We need to look beyond that."
The number of people at higher risk of Covid complications in Northland is hard to put a number on, but should not be minimised, said Cunningham.
"I look after many, many patients who are on medication which will leave them immunosuppressed and it would be a great concern if they would catch Covid.
"Thankfully, all of my patients who are immunosuppressed are vaccinated, but even still, should they contract Covid, they will still be affected far more severely than someone similar to them who is not immunocompromised."
We can't change someone else's medical history, but we can protect them with our own medical decisions, Cunningham said.
"Our vaccination is the number one protection we have."
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