There is often confusion about the term “vaccine mandate”. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, vaccination of children against smallpox was compulsory in New Zealand, as in many other countries, but the mandate was not rigorously enforced.
In response to the pandemic, New Zealand hospitals’ alert responses adopted strict regulations on patient screening and significant limitations on visitation.
Health inequities between Māori and non-Māori are due to differential access to the determinants of wellbeing including timely healthcare and differences in the quality of healthcare.
The first Minutes record the “Aims of the Society should be the scientific study of obstetrical work in NZ and to give the art of obstetrical practice the dignity and status it rightly deserved, but at present lacked”.
High levels of unmet need and a creaking healthcare system should suggest a need to examine the underlying reasons for both and should not rely on a managerialist technical solution.
Abiding by the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi could be life-saving. Care of the community is far more important than the rights of individuals.
April 1922. The medical faculty in the School of Medicine at Otago University deserves great praise for the steady progress that has been made year by year in the medical school.