Letters to the editor: Vaccination mandate may be the shove we need

Vaccination mandates may give some hesitant people the shove they need, writes a reader. Photo / Getty Images

I fully support mandatory vaccination for teachers and health workers.

I also enjoy my freedom of choice.

We must all have experienced times when we'd choose not to do something for a raft of personal reasons or just to be contrary but relent and do it, albeit reluctantly, for the greater good, or for others or to keep the peace.

Consider, also, those who've been drafted to serve in wars.

They've gone, not because they've wanted to, but for the greater good and a brighter future.

This time the enemy is a virus and the armoury is a vaccine, not bombs and missiles.

A brighter future and economic recovery must take precedence over selfish, personal preference.

Yes, some employers may lose staff, but at the end of the day, just how many?

Those staff will still have rent, mortgages and other costs, and the prospect of another job especially in their chosen profession may be minimal.

What comments will referees make with potential future employers? Maybe a loss of income will be the shove required.

Paddi Hodgkiss
Rotorua

Boardwalk dismays

I took my first opportunity this morning to inspect the new boardwalk at the lakefront.

I was aware of the fact that a small child had fallen into the lake within one month of the official opening, so I wished to apprise myself of the safety conditions applicable.

Upon inspection, I found there was a lip on either side of the walkway no higher than 3 inches high and that was it, no fence or restraining material of any kind whatsoever.

It staggers me that regulations dictate that all home swimming pools are to be completely fenced. The council says the boardwalk complied with all health and safety regulations.

Where has common sense gone in regard to this, in my opinion, monumentally expensive vanity project?

D.H. Bruce
Lynmore

Locals know local issues

The Daily Post reports Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying: '"working out of Wellington is not the way we're going to reach into those individual communities, it will be whānau and providers who know their communities best who will have the best chance to reach them" (News, October 8).

This of course is in response to the uptake of the Covid vaccine.

An interesting comment in the light of the proposed Three Waters legislation to move centralise the water supply, waste and stormwater disposal into four entities, hereby removing it from local control.

It's long been known that local folks are best qualified to deal with local issues.

Past governments, prior to MMP, also ruled by decree and under Muldoon, all but bankrupted NZ in my view.

Society has changed under welfare state systems over the last century, disempowering localised social services who best knew their communities. Church-based services were best suited for these tasks, but then of course, God is not popular.

John Williams
Ngongotahā

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