Summary
New Zealand’s royal commission into its Covid-19 response found vaccine mandates were reasonable based on available data but acknowledged they harmed social cohesion.
The report praised the country’s elimination strategy for achieving one of the lowest Covid death rates among developed nations while preventing healthcare system collapse.
However, it criticized prolonged lockdowns, weak health system preparedness, and a lack of planning for future crises.
Commissioners urged broad investment in pandemic readiness and emphasized the importance of both frontline and planning staff.
A second phase of the inquiry will review vaccine harms and conclude in 2026.
Well you’ve been reading incorrect.
I live in NZ and was here all through covid. We had, outside Auckland, a total of 8 weeks lockdown, then some mild restrictions for a few weeks, then business as usual.
Places like Melbourne and the UK had over a year of restrictions and many more months of lockdown
Public masking and vaccine mandates didn’t stop until September 2022.
That’s different from a lockdown, no?
Yeah but I was talking about covid restrictions in general. Maybe that’s where the confusion came.