'He does get around' — Bloomfield addresses Tamakis leaving Auckland, refusing vaccine

March 4, 2021

The Director-General of Health was asked about the Destiny Church leaders at today’s 1pm briefing.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield today addressed Brian Tamaki leaving Auckland, and his wife Hannah refusing to get a vaccine.

Bloomfield was asked about the couple by reporters at today’s 1pm briefing: firstly, whether he knew that Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki has now been spotted in the South Island after leaving Auckland shortly before the Alert Level 3 lockdown came into effect.

“He does get around, doesn’t he. Goodness,” Bloomfield said.

“There was a lot of travel from people out of Auckland to the rest of the country and that’s why we are using Alert Level 2 in the rest of the country.

"Whether it’s the Tamakis or anyone out of Auckland, the request of them has been clear that they should be minimising their interaction with large groups of people.

"In fact, there should not be large gatherings anywhere in the country because of the alert level restrictions."

He was then asked how damaging it was that Hannah Tamaki has stated she will not have a Covid-19 vaccine just before the Government's messaging around it is due to come out.

"Here is someone who has clearly stated their intention not to get the vaccine and they may change their mind, but there are also many New Zelaanders who have stated their intention to get the vaccine and I am one of them," Bloomfield said.

He added that he's "confident in our narrative" around the vaccine rollout messaging to the public.

The questions come after the Tamakis have hit the headlines over the last two days for leaving Auckland on the eve of lockdown, and Hannah Tamaki revealing she won't be taking a Covid-19 vaccine.

On Saturday night, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Auckland would enter Alert level 3 at 6am the next morning.

At the same time, the Tamakis packed their bags to leave for Rotorua before the curfew began.

While the lockdown hadn't technically begun on Saturday night and police checkpoints were not yet in force, Ardern had suggested that leaving Auckland would not be in the spirit of keeping all New Zealanders safe from Covid-19.

"We do ask people, though, to adopt those Level 3 standards and rules as soon as they can," she announced on Saturday.

The following morning, Hannah Tamaki took to the stage during the Sunday service at Destiny's Rotorua church to explain her and her husband's reasons for "escaping".

"So of course we escaped down to Rotorua, got here just after 12am because the shutdown was at 6am," she said.

"It was better for us to be here — be in the atmosphere."

In several Facebook comments this morning, Hannah continued to deny any wrongdoing.

"We are not the ones to say sorry. The media need to apologise to our people, calling them poor and less intelligent and need to have the Covid vaccine.

"Everything in your life is a choice, make sure you choose for yourself, not be talked into something you are not happy to do.

"I'm not taking the vaccine, that's my choice."

MedSafe, New Zealand's medicines and medical devices safety authority, and the Government have approved use of the Pfiser/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccination in New Zealand.

"Our priority is to make sure we have access to safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines," the Ministry of Health's website says.

"No vaccine will be made available for public use in New Zealand until Medsafe complete their assessment and it’s been approved."

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