‘Worst of circumstances’: Royal Commission backs pandemic response but acknowledges scars

Mahvash Ikram

The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into covid-19 has concluded that the Labour government’s response to the pandemic was effective, but lockdowns went on too long and vaccine mandates went well beyond the narrow programme originally envisaged, intruding on fundamental rights and freedoms.

“This report concludes that New Zealand’s response to the covid-19 pandemic was effective yet also recognises areas where the government’s response could have been strengthened. While New Zealand displayed some remarkable resilience in coming through this pandemic, we must not miss the opportunity to build resilience for the future,” it says.

The report covers the second phase of the pandemic – from February 2021 to October 2022 – when the virus was in the community, The inquiry’s first phase, released in 2024, looked at the earlier period when New Zealand was following an elimination strategy.

According to the latest findings, the elimination strategy and vaccine roll-out were effective, but the exit from that elimination could have been quicker. The report noted that although the pandemic had an adverse impact on the economy, the government’s decisions were “considered and appropriate”.

But it said there were several areas where the government could have had an improved response.

Vaccine mandates

Phase two of the inquiry, which was headed by Grant Illingworth KC, found the government’s decision to mandate vaccines was based on advice and experience in comparable jurisdictions, but there was “striking” gap in monitoring the impacts of those mandates.

It was effectively impossible to determine the number of workers impacted, the report said.

“These requirements started out narrowly targeted, with the initial border mandate affecting about 6,000 staff, most of whom had already been immunised voluntarily. Over time, the combination of occupational mandates, employer mandates… and the obligations for people working in venues using vaccine passes to be vaccinated, meant that a large share of the workforce was ultimately affected. It is impossible to precisely determine the number because no data was collected about the number and breadth of employer-led mandates”.

And when it came to vaccine mandates for under-18s who were working, the health advice from experts was not followed. According to the report this group should not have been mandated to receive two vaccine doses, because of the risk of cardiac myocarditis.

While acknowledging that mandates were a valid response to deal with the pandemic, the commission said, “the scale of their intrusion on fundamental rights and freedoms, and their potential for severely negative impacts on those who choose not to be vaccinated, means they should be used with great care.”

Lockdowns

The elimination strategy should have ended much earlier, the commission concluded, saying the Auckland-Northland border could have reopened over the over the 2021-2022 Christmas period.

The lockdown in Auckland in late 2021 was also six days longer than the period recommended by the-then Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield, it stated.

It was clear by October 2021 that COVID-19 could not be eliminated, however, the government was not ready to take that into consideration, according to the report.

“Decision-makers could potentially have lowered restrictions in Auckland from that point, or soon thereafter – although we acknowledge that we are making this observation with the benefit of hindsight and data from Australia”

But the commission acknowledged that it was a time of uncertainty.

“The government clearly faced a situation of extreme difficulty in October and November 2021. This experience gives rise to some useful lessons about making the best decisions in the worst of circumstances.”

“It was described to us as the ‘luckless responsibility of government and senior officials to try to find and navigate their way through bad choices and worse choices’.”

The commission said a key lesson for the future was that elimination strategies are challenging to exit.

The report called 2021- 2022 “a fraught transition period”.

“The pandemic, and the response to it, has left scars. During the period examined in this phase, people continued to die and others suffered long-term health impacts. Some lost all faith in government and other institutions, and remain disengaged, sceptical or even hostile towards them today.”

Political takes

Health Minister Simeon Brown said the initial response to the pandemic in 2020 was largely welcomed by the country, but the Labour government did not consider the economic costs.

The $60 billion Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund was spread across 821 programmes and around half of those were unrelated to the pandemic, he claimed.

“The commission has also found that restrictions continued longer than public health advice recommended, and that the economic costs were not given sufficient weight alongside the health response.

“The cost-of-living pressures New Zealanders are still feeling today – and the ongoing lack of social cohesion for some – are part of that story.”

“New Zealanders made enormous sacrifices and placed enormous trust in their government. We owe it to them to understand what happened and learn from it,” Brown said.

Meanwhile, Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the report found the pandemic response.

“Like the first report, this inquiry finds New Zealand’s response to Covid-19 was robust, with decisions that were considered, appropriate, and guided by the best evidence available at the time,” he said.

“What now matters most is how we use the lessons learned. It is vital that when New Zealand faces its next major challenge, our institutions are resilient, our processes sound, and public trust strengthened.”