Labour govt 2020-23

[artemis]

A very good programme Q & A with Jack Tame TV1 sunday. He asked Chris Hipkins specifically if they could have got more vaccine earlier by paying more or any other way. Categorically, No. Good enough for me,Chris Hipkins has been an outstanding, with integrity, servant to us throughout covid imo. Checkout the interview.

I watched this. Minister Hipkins did say 'No' but then went on to say that we were not offered options. Next question could have been - Did we ask? Push? Didn't happen. Minister Hipkins did say that the decision was made to go with Pfizer only.

Don't agree it was a great interview. Some good questions were asked, though soft answers were mostly accepted readily, but there was a lot of deflection from the Minister, and a lot of - it's a challenge, we are looking at options, training ICU staff, redoing plans for delta .... The net of which was - we knew but did very little additional.

About vaccines, the Min of Health publishes a lot of covid stats, including the cumulative number of vaccines landed. Ticked along February to mid July and then increased sharply. Not exactly hard and early.

[Getty]

Not to mention the 700k on PR....when MBIE already has 64 PR spin-sters. I reckon 64 would equate to probably 6 million in employees expenses. That's just 1 department on spin!

Ardern's best idea to get to full employment is to employ as many PR people as possible to get her re-elected.

Drain the swamp, and kick the water foulers out!

[Joshuatree]

I posted this on the Coronavirus thread, bit Is just as relevant here


For those who think Labour have made good use of the last 16 months while they employed an "Elimination Strategy".....think again.

Here's what ICU frontliners are saying....taken from Bryce Edwards Roundup

In this, ICU doctor Craig Carr says: “We now have more equipment compared with 18 months ago, but we actually have very few extra staff, and in some instances, we've got fewer staff”, and “Actual resourced bed capacity on a day-to-day basis, in terms of a bed with a nurse and a ventilator and all the monitors, that has not risen, to my knowledge, in the last 18 months.”

Backed up by Mathew Hooten in the same Roundup


Intensive Care Unit shortfalls

The Skegg report, delivered to the Government just before the arrival of Delta, raised questions about the capacity of ICU facilities and staffing to handle an outbreak of Covid. It was New Zealand’s lack of ICU resources that apparently convinced the Government last year that such a strong lockdown was urgent.

In Matthew Hooton’s Friday column further details emerged of how this dire situation has remained the same: “There were 334 ventilators and 358 ICU beds at the end of the first lockdown. The Ministry of Health says there are just 284 fully staffed ICU beds across public hospitals. While there are 629 ICU-capable ventilators, including 133 in reserve, the number of nurses trained to work with them improved by just 1 per cent. The problem that forced Ardern to opt for her ultra-tough strategy is as bad as ever.”

Plus this wee gem re spin and PR

In this article, MacNamara goes through the large amount of money spent on contractors and consultants, and points out that much of it went on PR specialists to handle communications, especially in terms of the vaccination programme. Despite having 64 staff working on communications, MBIE spent another $700,000 on PR advice. Another $700,000 was spent on contractors for things like vaccine procurement, with much of this going to law firm Bell Gully.

I guess it's just easier to lock the door and bring in martial law style lockdowns than actually fix anything.

And I explained to you it takes 4 or 5 years to train specialised nurses for ICU,you can't just click your fingers.And no you can't poach those staff overseas( although our blimen neighbour tries).

2ndly without the best PR we wouldn't have a team of 5 mill ,all for one and one for all,mainly ,we would have rioting and be overrun with Delta.

[fungus pudding]

And I explained to you it takes 4 or 5 years to train specialised nurses for ICU,you can't just click your fingers.And no you can't poach those staff overseas( although our blimen neighbour tries).

2ndly without the best PR we wouldn't have a team of 5 mill ,all for one and one for all,mainly ,we would have rioting and be overrun with Delta.

We do not have a 'team' of five million going by any definition of team I have ever read. Its constant patronising misuse by Jacinda and her spin doctors is sickening.

[jonu]

And I explained to you it takes 4 or 5 years to train specialised nurses for ICU,you can't just click your fingers.And no you can't poach those staff overseas( although our blimen neighbour tries).

2ndly without the best PR we wouldn't have a team of 5 mill ,all for one and one for all,mainly ,we would have rioting and be overrun with Delta.

And I explained to you a process that would have helped. Why can't you poach those staff from overseas? Ours have been for decades. Entice the diaspora home, make it easy for them. One of our nurses was caring for Boris Johnson!

As for the propaganda budget, I guess it is easier for people to remain in Ardern's spin cycle than face the pain of hopping out.

[Logen Ninefingers]

And I explained to you it takes 4 or 5 years to train specialised nurses for ICU,you can't just click your fingers.And no you can't poach those staff overseas( although our blimen neighbour tries).

2ndly without the best PR we wouldn't have a team of 5 mill ,all for one and one for all,mainly ,we would have rioting and be overrun with Delta.

If we have a team of 5 million, why can we not be given vaccination targets? PM being interviewed by Ryan Bridge on this point said this morning "oh it's no good having 80% vaccinated if only 60% of under 16's are vaccinated - you could still have a big outbreak".
What a ridiculous answer: how does not setting any targets help ensure there is widespready vaccination across age ranges? You could have targets broken down into age groups in any case.
I think not having any targets is actually leading to people not getting vaccinated, as there is no sense of urgency, no timeline, no targets....it's all nebulous and airy fairy.
If they told us that once we get to 85% we would change strategy, that would be an additional incentive to get vaccinated. People need certainty, they need to know what they are striving towards.

[artemis]

And I explained to you it takes 4 or 5 years to train specialised nurses for ICU,you can't just click your fingers.And no you can't poach those staff overseas( although our blimen neighbour tries)...

In his Q&A interview Minister Hipkins said that some ICU nurses would not be fully trained but that's OK. And I'm sure it is if they are appropriately supervised.

We could allow specialist ICU nurses in from overseas. Do we though at present? We have rentals near Wellington Hospital - medical staff from the Philippines are always top of our applicant list and the numbers here already are surprisingly large. It's not long since the hospital brought in 12 midwives from the Philippines to meet a local shortage. There were many applicants according to our family's midwife there at the time, and they are highly valued.

[Balance]

If we have a team of 5 million, why can we not be given vaccination targets? PM being interviewed by Ryan Bridge on this point said this morning "oh it's no good having 80% vaccinated if only 60% of under 16's are vaccinated - you could still have a big outbreak".
What a ridiculous answer: how does not setting any targets help ensure there is widespready vaccination across age ranges? You could have targets broken down into age groups in any case.
I think not having any targets is actually leading to people not getting vaccinated, as there is no sense of urgency, no timeline, no targets....it's all nebulous and airy fairy.
If they told us that once we get to 85% we would change strategy, that would be an additional incentive to get vaccinated. People need certainty, they need to know what they are striving towards.

Cindy knows she and her team of incompetents are incapable of delivering anything but spin.

3 years and 9 months in government and everything has gotten worse -

crime,

child poverty,

housing,

hospital care,

mental health,

education,

budget deficits,

inflation,

race relations

vaccine rollout

border protection against the virus

So Spin is the only thing left and she is using taxpayers' funds freely and willfully to lie to NZers.

[dobby41]

If they told us that once we get to 85% we would change strategy, that would be an additional incentive to get vaccinated. People need certainty, they need to know what they are striving towards.

They should tell us 95% of the eligible population and nothing less will do. Say that the 5% is already taken by those who can't have it for medical reasons so unless you have a medical reason you'd better get vaccinated.
Would that do?

[Bjauck]

We do not have a 'team' of five million going by any definition of team I hav ever read. Its constant patronising misuse by Jacinda and her spin doctors is sickening.

Even the best team does not convert every opportunity into a point. Every team "could do better?" I have no doubt that if the other lot were in charge there would be plenty of spinning as well.