Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says he's reluctant for there to be a "finger pointing" at those who are hesitant to be vaccinated against the virus and those who won't.
Although it was "great" and there was "no harm" in people latching onto modelling which showed a 90 per cent vaccination rate in New Zealand could mean lockdowns were avoided, he told Q+A who makes up the unvaccinated needs to be taken into account before judgement is cast.
This could include anti-vaxxers, those who could have severe allergic reactions to it and those with underlying health conditions.
In response to being asked by presenter Jack Tame if there would be a point in the future where the Government would say people had had good opportunity to be vaccinated and if not "that's on you".
Hipkins stated: "I think some of the ethical decisions the Government has to take do change a little bit in the context of everybody having access to the vaccine and having had ample opportunity to be vaccinated," Hipkins remarked.
"If we go back a year-and-a-half ago, we had a deadly disease that was potentially going to devastate New Zealand, no one really had any alternative, there weren’t choices here in terms of vaccines and so on, people do now have those choices.
"So when we make those future decisions, yes of course the ethical dilemma facing Government is a little different to what it was even six months ago."
Although understanding who was not vaccinated was an important part of risk mitigation, Hipkins said he did not want to get into a "finger pointing exercise" in which particular groups were being labelled for slow vaccination rates or why people were not getting vaccinated.
"We need to just get out there and encourage people to be vaccinated and I think a finger pointing type exercise is actually going to be an impediment to getting people to come forward and be vaccinated.
"I’m always hesitant when it comes to talking about that sort of thing because it quickly descends into a thing of saying those people just aren't pulling their weight or they’re not doing what they should be doing. Actually that’s not helpful."
Hipkins also said he did not like "latching onto" particular numbers and targets when it came to making decisions about the make-up of the Government's elimination strategy and restrictions within that.
"Getting to 90 per cent, the question becomes what does that 10 per cent look like? Whose in that 10 per cent who’s not vaccinated? And if there are high concentration pockets of people who are unvaccinated, then that’s still a really significant risk."
He pointed out in Auckland at the beginning of the week there were 23,000 over 65s who were unvaccinated. Their hospitalisation rate was 1 in 6.
"All of those numbers that sit underneath those big targets are the things that matter."
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