It is a truism that Death is a part of Life. Certainly death will come
to all of us in time, but most people are prepared to take some steps
to defer that event; and that often involves taking reasonable
precautions to avoid diseases and infections that may result in death.
It has been proven that vaccination against Covid will not always be
successful in avoiding catching the virus or even from dying as a
result, but we know that it significantly reduces both the chance of
infection as well as the severity of the infection. Vaccination is
currently available without charge; it is safe for most people (for
all vaccinations there are a very small number of people who are
adversely affected, but that proportion appears to be similar to other
vaccines, some of which are regularly given to babies and young
children). It is also free (I suspect that purchases of vaccines
currently being given were already under way prior to the election.)
Dr Shane Reti is a strong advocate for the Covid vaccination - if they
have already been paid for, there is little point in not using them;
he is also aware of low vaccination rates, and he should also be
applauded for ignoring the inherent anti-Maori sentiment of many of
his colleagues in the coalition government, and seeking assistance
from Maori organisations in the area; getting to some of the
relatively isolated and poor Maori families in the far North is helped
by assistance from such organisations.
In another area however, National are indeed putting money before
health outcomes - they need the money from tobacco taxes to pay for
tax cuts, and having so many give up smoking is now reducing income
from that source. Stopping smoking is good for our health, keeping
smoking rates higher will impact on health costs which will not please
Dr Reti, but such is necessity when financial decisions are left to a
Minister that did not understand and did not seek effective financial
advice. But that is a different issue; in relation to Covid the
message from both the current coalition government and the previous
Labour-led government is consistent - you are less likely to suffer or
die from a Covid infection if you have been vaccinated; it reduces
health costs for all New Zealanders and is free - just get it done!
But to return to your concerns about talk of Death; the following url
may be of interest and possible benefit to you:
https://open.spotify.com/show/0rG1rZNbVenv1TlVoP7Tep