Venkat Raman
Auckland, August 20, 2021
Although vaccination of Police Officers has gathered some pace over the past two days, they must be inoculated against the deadly Coronavirus, community representatives and Patrons of several Police Training Wings have urged.
In a signed memorandum, they have called on the New Zealand government, Ministry of Health officials and all those in positions of influence to take appropriate steps to ensure that Police Officers receive their Covid-19 vaccines ‘on a war footing.’
“As it is, our Police Officers work under extreme stress, placing their lives at risk. They must be protected immediately against the virus, especially when its Delta Variant is spreading in Auckland and the North Island, threatening to affect the rest of the country. Police have already dealt with almost 700 breaches of the regulations during the first two days of lockdown level four. There is, therefore, greater urgency in protecting them with the vaccine,” they said.
Police Association endorsement
New Zealand Police Association Te Aka Hapai President Chris Cahill has welcomed their call.
“I thank you on behalf of the members of the Police Association for your support on this important issue. We cannot change the fact this has not occurred but I believe your support will assist in ensuring the government makes every effort to provide police access to vaccines with urgency,” he said.
The representatives said that our Police deliver one of the most critical services in keeping communities and whanau safe.
“We are told that only 40% of the Police force have thus far been vaccinated. This is clearly inadequate. It is very disappointing that we are even discussing this as common sense should have dictated vaccination of the entire complement of officers in the first instance. They should be treated as a priority and as frontline, essential workers. Their presence in the public- at our borders, on the streets and other places – exposes them to the risk of catching the virus. There should be no more delays in getting them vaccinated,” they said.
Prime Minister’s commitment
Against the backdrop of growing public demand to get such frontline staff fully vaccinated, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a media conference on August 19, 2021 that the government was working with the key groups.
“While this is a welcome development, we appeal to the Prime Minister to take a personal interest in the safety and good health of our Police Officers. Ideally, every Police Officer should be vaccinated without delay. We support the efforts of the government in containing the spread of Covid-19 in the community and believe that one of the important steps in that direction is to ensure that our Police are properly immunised” they said.
The community representatives and Wing Patrons congratulated the government in speeding up the vaccination efforts but appealed for greater urgency when it came to the police.
Among the signatories to the Letter of Appeal are Dr Sir Tamihana (Toby) Curtis (Chairman, Te Arawa Trust), Howie Tamati (MBE), Sir Mark Wiremu Solomon, Dr Anwar Ghani (Muslim Community Leader and Patron of Police Wing 294), Gregory Fortuin (African Community Leader and Patron of Police Wing 302), Venkat Raman (Editor, Indian Newslink and Patron of Police Wing 328), Ranjna Patel, (Chairman, Gandhi Nivas and Patron of Police Wing 330), Richard Leung (immediate Past President, New Zealand Chinese Association) and Paul Patel (President, New Zealand Indian Central Association).
