Please Stand With Us on the Right Side of History
Overview:
What became clear from the hui is that many do not know the devastating consequences Covid response measures, including the jab roll-out, have had on New Zealanders. But now, some do know, and they heard stories and data they will never forget.
Voices for Freedom
Voices For Freedom yesterday gave a voice to those negatively impacted by the government’s Covid-19 response, in a conciliation hui with the Human Rights Commission.
Guest speakers bravely shared stories of pain, suffering, and losing loved ones after the Covid jab. Tears were shed around the room as the speakers told their stories of heartbreak of being ignored, vilified and rejected by the government, the medical profession and society.
Others spoke about the pain of losing jobs and homes, and hearts broke hearing of the enormous hurt and loss caused to their communities trying to manage without their experience and talent, all due to vaccine mandates.
In addition, several well-respected scientists, doctors and lawyers delivered presentations touching on various issues such as Covid data, therapeutics, informed consent and human rights. They spoke clearly and honestly about factual data regarding covid cases, deaths and vaccine injury.
Others attending included the Police and representatives from The Freedom and Rights Coalition, The Health Forum NZ, NZDSOS and independents.
Invitations to attend in person or via Zoom were sent to multiple Politicians. It is regretful that they did not make the most of this offer to enter into dialogue. We have requested meetings with the government on several occasions, and their continued unwillingness to engage or even respond is frustrating and shameful. Their silence is deafening.
Voices for Freedom is thankful to Chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt for graciously hosting this significant and emotional hui. The opportunity to feel heard is vital in the face of devastating hurt and is a good first step, opening the door to helpful dialogue and understanding.
The government’s Covid response, including mandates, the Traffic Light System, and vaccine passports, have torn families apart, destroyed careers and caused considerable harm to the lives of many New Zealanders by creating a two-class society.
The pain of those not jabbed and those injured or killed by the jab feels unbearable.
What became clear from the hui is that many do not know the devastating consequences Covid response measures, including the jab roll-out, have had on New Zealanders. But now, some do know, and they heard stories and data they will never forget.
Voices For Freedom is of the view that there is no demonstrable justification for the mandates, and they should be immediately scrapped as disproportionate after recent comments by Dr Betty who said “…in the last four to five weeks, the situation has changed dramatically with Omicron, which is not Delta – it’s much more like a common cold, flu-like illness … I think we need to move into a space very rapidly of thinking we’re going to live with this and get back to some sort of normality.”
Furthermore, even the Prime Minister has now acknowledged that “Omicron [is] more mild and moderate for most people”.
Preferably, the government will wake up tomorrow and scrap the Covid Response Act with the mandates, passports and the like, but if they do not, Voices For Freedom asked the Human Rights Commission to advocate that the government do the following:
1. Conduct an urgent proportionality review to address what is happening with the covid response right now. The government has mentioned a possible end of March date to end the mandates, but three or four weeks is a long time for people who are hurting or have nothing. Given what Dr Betty has said and that we have 500-700 deaths in New Zealand from the flu each year, the Covid Response Act, including the mandates, needs to go.
2. Instigate an independent public enquiry into the entire Covid response from February 2020. The government’s response to Covid has eroded the social fabric of New Zealand, potentially irrevocably. They have created a chasm that we’re worried might not close quickly. We need to go back and look at what happened and consider – ultimately – whether any of it was worth it.
Sweden is the global exemplar, where those at risk were vaccinated, as well as those who chose this option of their own free will. In contrast in New Zealand, public and scientific debate on alternative options was comprehensively discouraged, and even resulted in unprecedented social and employment exclusion of thousands of our academics and medical experts.
3. Institute constitutional reform. We cannot be in a position where this can happen again. No government should be able to trample human rights so easily. Nor should those asking legitimate questions be dismissed by the government under the guise of their views being labelled misinformation. We must make every effort to protect the fundamental human rights of New Zealanders, especially in a crisis when we’re most vulnerable and need them the most.
Please stand with us on the right side of history.
From Guy Hatchard
Public Statement by Guy Hatchard Ph.D. Following a meeting with the Chief Commissioner Paul Hunt of the NZ Human Rights Commission
23 February 2022
Dear Commissioner
Thank you for providing the opportunity to present to yourself and staff yesterday afternoon. I did so as an individual scientist but on the invitation of Voices For Freedom. I remain independent of groups, but maintain communication with many groups and colleagues on scientific issues.
I am not a protestor, nor do I have any history prior to the pandemic of publicly opposing vaccination. I am formerly a senior manager at Genetic ID a global food safety testing and certification company (now known as FoodChain ID).
I am a long standing advocate of the benefits and safety of those natural approaches to diet and medicine which have been adequately scientifically verified. I have my own website, HatchardReport.com.
At the conclusion of the meeting you said that the HRC would make a public statement and left the participants free to make public statements themselves. Thank you.
This morning I read your public statement following the meeting which affirms that you feel a duty to listen, and adduces “It’s clear that the protesters who I have met with have very real stories of loss and suffering. They feel broken and discarded due to the impact of Covid-19 health measures on their lives.” You also expressed a measure of caution.
As a person experienced in the analysis of data and the assessment of scientific information, I am increasingly aware of deficiencies in official NZ pandemic data and its use to support continuations of now outdated government policy. Outdated government policy and incomplete official data directly impacts the rights of individuals.
For example, since 21 August 2021, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has been publishing data related to the Covid outbreak in a cumulative fashion. This data shows that 60% of cases occur in the vaccinated (against a vaccinated population rate of 79%), and that 70% of hospitalisations are among the unvaccinated.
This appears to strongly support vaccination, however it is misleading due to the cumulative nature of the data, (and incidentally because of the way vaccination status is categorised). Cumulative data only reveals the average of the whole outbreak, not the current daily and weekly trends.
Since October 2021, members of my support team have been calculating ‘snapshots’ of data by subtracting report data from each subsequent report. This has allowed me to see the current burden of cases by vaccination status for any specific time period, and to calculate the hospitalisation risk disparity for cases by vaccination status. Below is an example of the data between February 17 and 18:
This snapshot data paints a very different and relevant picture. It is indicative that during the present phase of our Covid outbreak, those that are vaccinated may be at slightly higher risk of hospitalisation than those who are unvaccinated. The general trends and overseas data support this concern.
You will be well aware that this is in contrast to government and media messaging strongly encouraging booster vaccinations as essential. If you ignore the crucial issue of very high rates of adverse effects, this could possibly be supported by the historical cumulative Covid data, but it is certainly not supported by current data.
The reason for the ineffectiveness of mRNA vaccination must also be obvious to you from yesterday’s presentations and the supporting submissions provided to you by presenters. The characteristics of Omicron are quite different from those of Delta. Omicron is a variant that has adapted to prefer infection of vaccinated individuals. From the perspective of genomics, this results from the well documented path of viral evolution.
I note that Medsafe has admitted in small print on its website, generally unnoticed and uncommented by media, that the phenomenon of vaccine acquired immune deficiency (which I allude to above) is a risk about which they have concern.
The Human Rights implications of this are also obvious. Incentives and encouragement to vaccinate, when its benefit is in doubt, but the risk of harm is well documented, do not amount to a process of informed consent or medical risk mitigation. Today in your public statement you clearly extend personal sympathy to those affected by adverse vaccine reactions.
Many among the wider population are becoming aware of risks through personal experiences. For example a friend of mine is a director of a large business, one of his relatives has been affected by myocarditis, but his work colleagues remained sceptical of any risk.
Recently the father of one of their employees had a booster shot immediately followed by a massive heart attack. As a result, the opinion of his colleagues has swung back in full support of my friend’s informed choice. This kind of experience is reforming public opinion up and down the country (and even I have heard in Parliament). It is no surprise that booster uptake has barely reached 50% of those eligible.
I come to the point of my writing, in addition to a big thank you for taking the time to listen at length, I submit that the human rights abuses are a matter of daily misery for many, extending to some dramatic and devastating personal health impacts which are escalating as booster shots are rolled out. In my opinion, it is not tenable to delay action.
The government has curated extremes of public opinion fearful of Covid outcomes, in favour of experimental mRNA vaccination, and prejudiced against those reluctant to vaccinate. As you know, this has extended to punitive measures.
As published evidence has accumulated which points to increased health risks of vaccination and therefore a need to revise policy, the government has dug its heels in and doubled down on announcements of vaccine safety and effectiveness. The Ministry of Health’s restricted presentation of data along with its refusal to institute mandatory reporting of adverse effects verges on the deliberately misleading and implies a cover up.
I surmise from your extensive history of supporting human rights, that you will know there is a fine line between unfortunate mistakes and deliberate suppression of fact. I believe that line is now being crossed in New Zealand.
Leadership in this situation involves a willingness to speak up, even if the message may be unwelcome, and a capacity to change direction. Every day that passes by without action means growing economic misery and exclusion for some and crucially some serious health incidents for others. There is an imperative for the Commission to stand up and say unequivocally there is a case which has been made and needs to be answered. A case that requires an open public dialogue.
Therefore I warmly welcome your statement:
“The job given to the Human Rights Commission, Te Kāhui Tika Tangata, by Parliament is to listen, conciliate, educate and advance human rights and responsibilities for all”
I am asking you here to follow this statement with a timely call for a wider public process that will go beyond a possibly poorly informed, and certainly based on past experience, opaque review confined within the corridors of parliamentary power. The HRC is there to protect and uphold rights independently from parliament.
As I indicated in my submission, incidence of adverse effects and death proximate to Covid vaccination in NZ and elsewhere have far surpassed thresholds set by medical ethics and protocol that should also trigger an immediate pause in vaccination. This is not a time to delay, the situation has already passed beyond a point requiring prompt action. Can you please advise me of the intended HRC time frame?
I will, as you have already indicated I may, make this statement publicly available.
I look forward to hearing more from the Commission shortly. I remain ready to provide any scientific information you need within a short time frame. As you know, I have already submitted to the HRC a list of 1000 published papers on adverse effects of mRNA vaccination.
Yours sincerely
Guy Hatchard PhD
From Lynda Wharton of Health Forum NZ
Re: Press Release from the NZ Human Rights Commission …
https://www.facebook.com/NZHumanRightsCommission/posts/325300376289540
I am now free to share with all of you that THIS is the meeting I attended (by zoom) yesterday. A gathering of the Human Rights Commissioner, Human Rights lawyers, mandated professional reps, some freedom group representatives, vaccine injured and vaccine bereaved, police…and myself.
The dialogue was, I believe, constructive. I (and others) were able to share the pain and reality of many of our health forum members suffering with injury, death of loved ones, mandates and declined medical exemptions. I have also made a written submission to the Human Rights Commissioner on behalf of all New Zealanders (and especially those i know the best…Health Forum members). Now we wait to see if the opened dialogue has inched us closer together.
Thank you to all of you for your support…for the almost 2,000 emails you have sent me sharing your mandated out stories. Due to the sheer volume I am unable to respond to you personally, and I am also unable to submit all of them to the Human Rights Commission. I have instead created a 30 page document of your representative stories, and submitted them to The Human Rights Commissioner.
I also have a plan B for your stories….I am going to video record the reading of some of them (WITH YOUR EXPRESS INDIVIDUAL WRITTEN CONSENT FIRST). The majority of New Zealanders have absolutely no idea what you are going through. If they can hear your stories, it will build a bridge of understanding and empathy… and help to heal our deep society wound.
