Editorial: Thames-Coromandel leader needs to stand down

Thames-Coromandel District Mayor Sandra Goudie. Photo / Alison Smith, File

EDITORIAL

There is no harder truth right now than that vaccination is our best way out of the pandemic; out of lockdowns; of avoiding widespread illness and unnecessary death.

The Pfizer vaccine has repeatedly been proven to be a most effective deterrent to the more debilitating effects of Covid-19. And it is safe.

Yet, Thames-Coromandel Mayor Sandra Goudie has repeatedly aired an anti-Pfizer vaccine position. She believes it "absolutely wrong" to mandate some people to have it.

Goudie told Tim Beveridge on Newstalk ZB yesterday morning: "I'm not taking the Pfizer vaccine... I will wait for the Novavax because I have that personal choice and everybody has that personal choice."

To state she is waiting for a vaccine that is not even yet being considered for use, Goudie is effectively refusing to be vaccinated. Worse, she is in a public office where her views may sway others. She refuses to outline why she has taken this stance, most likely because her reasoning would be dismantled and ridiculed by experts.

Goudie has made headlines before for refusing to scan properly for Covid-19 contact tracing and dismissing climate change declarations as "rhetoric around nothing substantive".

When questioned on climate change, Goudie once said, "I don't know enough about the science to know what the cause is. I'm not a scientist." It seems little has changed.

When Goudie was sworn as mayor in 2016 she spoke of "a responsibility to represent our district". In espousing a view that jeopardises the well-being and economy of her district, and wider communities, she has abdicated that responsibility and should resign.