As people around the world begin to lose interest in COVID-19 and the virus becomes in danger of falling out of vogue, New Zealand continues to strive for its magic ‘90% vaccinated’ threshold.

According to scientific research (which, as recent News broadcasts have shown, is the most effective way to start a noteworthy sentence), once New Zealand has reached a vaccination rate of 90% the virus, which was once considered tantamount to the deadliest of diseases, will effectively have its severity relegated to ‘barely concerning’.

In places like the UK, who were among the first to lose interest in the pandemic, COVID-19 has already become barely concerning and, while there are many people in Britain still dying from COVID, due to the early reaching of their vaccination target – cleverly set lower than ours so easier to reach – because the COVID-19 pandemic is now barely a concern, life as normal has basically resumed.

Taking note of the facts, scientific or otherwise, one might begin to empathise with the renegade team of anti-vaxxers within New Zealand’s bona fide team of five million; all the information we are being fed on COVID-19 through world media, including from over a year ago and until now, is reminiscent of The Holy Bible’s First Testament – so full of contradictions, fantasy and mistruths that a sceptical mind would struggle to believe it was reality – thus the people with the power later revise the original version, rescripting their premise, clearing up contradictions and making the whole thing sound less farcical, and just hope nobody remembers what was said the first time around.

The United Kingdom and its populous of over 60 million still has less than 70% fully vaccinated, but they’re good with that.

The trick there seemed to be setting low standards; the UK are still losing over 100 people each day to the COVID-19 virus, but they reached their vaccination target, so COVID doesn’t matter anymore.

Similarly, The United States of America with its populous of over 330 million has administered to fewer than 70% of its people even one COVID vaccination; yet with up to 1000 deaths per day, target reached or otherwise, the US people now seem comfortable with their defence of COVID-19.

The densely populated Asian continent, too, is still experiencing high daily infection numbers (China and Taiwan excluded as they appeared to always have control of their pandemic) yet, upon loosening of so-called lockdown restrictions, despite disastrously low vaccination rates, across most Asian countries, official daily contraction numbers have almost halved.

Similarly, Australia’s New South Wales recently lifted their COVID restrictions and, despite only around half of all Australians having been vaccinated with both shots, at this point, as above, most people have had enough of it therefore COVID is barely a concern.

International travel is resuming and, while technically COVID-19 is still far from ‘barely concerning’, it seems that most people are done being concerned with COVID-19.

As a global populous, we played the Coronavirus Pandemic game and we lost over five million participants; Jacinda Ardern talked about ‘New Zealand’s team of five million’ and we too played the game but as a team, our losses were negligible.

Maybe world leaders did conspire to disseminate unto the globe a toxin of unknown consequence in the form of a viral vaccine with the intention of…

Maybe I don’t give a damn, maybe I’m sick of this shit, too; I’m double-vaxed so yeah, I am now potentially one of that global dictator’s minions but hey, at least I played the game.

New Zealand’s Polynesian population, who were among the first to be offered the jab but in return offered defiance then when Pasifika vaccination rates were released as being officially low complained that they had been ‘forgotten by the Government’; seriously – pull your bloody heads in, get on with it, and just play the bloody game.

Even if the COVID-19 vaccine causes some mass extinction event, last thing I would wish is to be among the surviving 20% with all you precious bloody anti-vaxxers.

 

 

Article by Tim Walker

Edited by Auntie Vicks

Photography by Precious Id-Jits