Raise a glass to the Great Unvaccinated - our heroes one and all!

I spoke to a single mother of a teenage daughter this morning who was facing the inevitable loss of her job come Monday morning. The 15th of November 2021 will go down in New Zealand history as the day thousands of teachers, healthcare workers, and first responders will no longer be eligible to work for the New Zealand public if they are not vaccinated against Covid-19. The topic of conversation quickly turned to "What does the future hold?"

While the other 90% of New Zealand is fixated on whether or not individuals are vaccinated and who will be doing what over summer, the conversations we are having amongst ourselves are focused on freedom, bodily autonomy, Big Pharma corruption, political incompetence, and fighting back against mandates to vaccinate. What we have yet to turn our minds to is whether everything will eventually go back to the way it was, or whether we will end up with a real-life medley of The Hunger Games, District 9, and The Purge. Maybe it will be something in between.

Vaccinated citizens are proudly and smugly announcing on social media all the restaurants and bars they intend to go to, the concerts they will attend, the theatres they will visit, while looking down their noses at the unvaccinated as though they have become the new "Prawns". Little do they realise that the 'Purebloods' (that's really what we're calling ourselves these days!) don't care about any of those things. They don't care about society's little hoity-toities because they will still gather among themselves, eat and drink up a storm, use YouTube on large screen TV's in summer's backyard BBQ area, go boating, fishing and diving, camping, hiking, cycling - they will simply get on with enjoying their holidays. I haven't met or spoken with a single soul who actually cares about not attending that concert or missing out on dinner at that restaurant. (I have talked to one friend who made it clear that she hoped the vaccine certificates would be rolled out in time for her not to have to attend the company Christmas party though!)

We spoke in urgent tones of the need to prepare for any eventuality. Having on hand food supplies, emergency shelter, Covid at-home treatment supplies, and a vehicle always ready to go seemed pretty obvious. In the event that they come to hunt us down for our impudence at refusing the demands of a narcissistic dictator, we need to be ready to run for the hills. But most of our conversation was far more pragmatic.

We both had family who had pushed us to vaccinate. Hers had cut themselves off from her until she was prepared to submit, and she told the story of one of her workmates who had been banned from the family get-together at Christmas (and all future family events I guess, for as long as the attitude lasts) on the basis that she would not give up her right to refuse vaccination. From one side of their mouths they told her she was not welcome, and from the other they told her that it was her fault that they had decided that she was not welcome. Narcissism abounds among the vaccinated these days.

How will family life play out if one day the PM simply announces that we are now out of danger of Covid-19 and we can all breathe a sigh of relief and just "return to normal"? Is there any normal left? Will the atrocious vilification of the unvaccinated be whitewashed and the hordes calling for them to be refused medical treatment and groceries be forgiven? I highly doubt it. This has been a crossroads for a huge number of people, who have valiantly fought for the rights of everyone, not just themselves. I don't think they will forget the hatred aimed at them for a very long time to come. Some families may never recover from it - doomed to remain splintered or completely shattered forever.

On a more practical note, what will become of the unemployed? Will the system suddenly say "It's OK, you can come back to work now" and expect those nurses, firefighters, and teachers to meekly go on back? Because I would imagine that to be highly unlikely. Many will move on to alternative lifestyles, some will expect huge pay rates based on demand vs supply, and some will simply shove a middle finger to the businesses who so cruelly cast them aside. We may experience shortages of teaching and healthcare staff for a few years yet. And that has significant impacts, becoming more real everyday as we read of schools having to close for lack of teachers, and healthcare facilities scrambling to provide qualified staff to look after clients receiving both in-home and facility care. The next level of vilification will come when they tell the unvaccinated they are "selfish" for not thinking about what shortages would do to the communities they live in - conveniently overlooking that it was our government who introduced the policy.

And what of the young? Teenagers who need to continue in school to gain NCEA credits to go on to higher study - will they miss out if government enforces vaccine mandates on students? Children in the 5-11 year age group whose mothers (now unemployed) are threatening to homeschool - how will their education be affected? What will become of them. Enquiries about homeschooling have anecdotally increased a hundred-fold in the last two months.

With thousands now leaving their jobs, how will those individuals and families cope with levels of debt that they may have accrued while they held down jobs with reasonable pay? How will they pay rent if they are suddenly reduced to a Jobseeker benefit? Will the government begin forcing Jobseekers to be vaccinated or not be eligible for benefits? I warned that any attempt by our government to remove the last bastion of income support will likely result in the streets being reduced to burning rubble. If 30,000 pissed off Kiwis can storm the Beehive in a calm and peaceful manner, tripping the greatest heightening of security around our Parliament in 40 years, one can only imagine what they could do if they were really fired up and fueled by genuine rage.

As we ended the conversation, I spoke to my young friend as reassuringly as I could. If it came down to it and she had nowhere to go, I told her she could pack her daughter and her belongings into her car and head to the sunny Bay of Plenty. I have a large back yard, and she would be welcome to pitch her tent in it if the worst happened. And that is the takeaway we ended up on. 

The Great Unvaccinated - the bitter remnants and last bastion of Purebloods in today's New Zealand - need to stick together. We need to be prepared to lend each other a helping hand, to prop up others in times of need, to talk each other through good times and bad, even to come together and feed each other if necessary. We may soon be refused hospital and medical treatment (some are already being refused dental and cancer treatments) and we may be refused access to basic necessities. That is what our Prime Minister herself has already warned us.

But for us this will be the summer of friendships. Of wine and song with buddies old and new. We will cultivate those friendships in the summer months because we may need to rely on them as winter draws near. New communities will grow. A new way of life will come around.

 

So I will raise my glass and shout "Cheers" and "Hoorah!" to all the 'Great Unvaccinated' - together we are watching the sun rise on a whole new world!