Business owner fears vaccine certificate mandate will create a national divide

Wednesday, 27 October 2021

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says businesses that require vaccine certificates for entry will now be required to have a fully vaccinated workforce.

Māori-led businesses have more to consider when deciding if vaccine certificates are right for them, Auckland business owner Diva Giles says.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Tuesday that vaccines would now be mandatory for staff at any business where vaccine passports were required for customers, such as hospitality, hairdressers and gyms.

It will come into effect once 90 per cent of all district health boards’ eligible populations are fully vaccinated.

Co-owner of Auckland restaurant Beau, Giles, of Ngāti Whātua, supports the vaccine certificates and was consulting with her employees, but she was nervous about the impacts a mandate would have on her staff and across the motu.

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Diva Giles, co-owner of Auckland bar and restaurant Beau, says she wants to create a safe environment for her staff and customers.

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“It's different [for Māori businesses owners] in the sense that I feel more confused about it, but the outcome isn’t different. Making this decision and it having an impact on Māori is a horrific idea, but I don't think that Māori don’t want to get vaccinated, I just think we needed more time.

“I feel uncomfortable about the divisiveness of this. You have big moments around the country about what side you are on. I really empathise for people who are still making that decision.”

Economist Matt Roskruge says the economic fallout of Covid-19 will hit Māori businesses harder.

“But it’s about the health of the country.

“We try to have a business that has values and I learned those values from my Māori mother. In order to survive, Beau needs to open, but we also realise people need to survive. I want to be able to open in as safe a place as possible.”

It’s estimated 40 per cent of the county’s workforce will be subject to vaccine mandates in jobs spanning hospitality, education, health, and other workforces where risk assessments show certificates would benefit staff.

Massey University’s Associate Professor in Māori and health economics Matt Roskruge (Te Atiawa, Ngāti Tama) said Māori are facing a tougher fallout than other populations from the pandemic.

“This is the economic fallout of bad public health, and Māori have been suffering the economic fallout of bad public health for a long time,” he said.

The vast majority of the Māori population were not able to access the vaccine until September 1, Roskruge said.

Given the average populations of Māori and Pākehā, 26.1 per cent and 37.45 per cent respectively according to Statistics New Zealand, Māori were disproportionately less able to access early vaccination, Roskruge said.

“We targeted older people, it’s just that older people are disproportionately not Māori.

Tainui Group Holdings chief executive Chris Joblin was working with staff to see if vaccine certificates were right for the corporation.

“Given the slower uptake in vaccinations [by Māori], you’d have to hope the traffic light system is not permanent.”

Roskruge said not all businesses have suffered throughout the pandemic.

Diversified investment portfolios from iwi corporations were doing well compared to tourism and front-facing businesses, he said.

“It’s been uneven. Some of these have done absolutely fantastic, especially those that are essential.

The Government's new Covid-19 framework includes a 'traffic light' system and widespread vaccination certificate enforcement.

“The flipside of all this is the retail trade, accommodation and tourism have really suffered during Covid.

“Tainui and Ngāi Tahu have been overly exposed. I think some iwi have found it really difficult, as well as some Māori businesses.”

Tainui Group Holdings has investments in a range of primary industries, as well as front-facing hospitality.

Chief executive Chris Joblin said the group was committed to keeping kaimahi safe and, in sectors where it was appropriate, vaccine certificates may be used.

“Tainui Group Holdings owns a range of assets that interface with the public, and we are working with our ownership partners/management to determine what impact the requirement for vaccine certificates will have on those businesses.

“We support vaccination as the best available way to save lives and have encouraged our kaimahi to be vaccinated.”

But while employers will make decisions for the welfare of their businesses, employees face redundancy, Roskruge said.

Professor Michael Plank says vaccine certificates are good for business and health.

Ardern said employers who took up vaccine certificates were required to give staff a four-week notice period to get double-vaxxed before their employment could be terminated.

It could spell trouble for unvaccinated Māori staff, Roskruge said.

“A lot of Māori are in service-sector employment with face-to-face time.

“They’re absolutely going to have to have their vaccinations to do their work safely, but you can imagine it’s going to have a disproportionate impact on Māori.”

However, Roskruge said a target date for everyone to be vaccinated by was an incentive for those concerned about the vaccine to ask questions, and bring relief to those who have already been vaccinated.

“At some point, if people don’t want to be vaccinated, you just have to accept that, regardless of your ethnicity.”

Professor Michael Plank, of Te Pūnaha Matatini and the University of Canterbury, said there was no magic bullet to get rid of Covid, but vaccinations were the nation’s best bet to reduce risk and ease the stress of lockdowns.

“If an unvaccinated person goes to a venue, an event or a workplace, they are putting the health of those around them at risk.

“We can either use blanket measures like lockdowns which place restrictions on everyone. Or we can use vaccine certificates which restrict the freedoms of the small minority of people who choose not to be vaccinated.”

Immunologist Dr Dianne Sika-Paotonu said allowing paid time off on workdays to get vaccinated could reduce some accessibility issues for kaimahi, but stronger measures were needed to keep vulnerable communities safe.

To ensure no-one is left behind, vaccination target details needed to include at least 90 to 95 per cent full vaccinations for Māori and Pacific peoples, she said. “This would help keep our most vulnerable communities safe from Covid-19, and also includes protecting our children and young people.”

Director of Auckland University’s Immunisation Advisory Centre Professor Nikki Turner said successful immunisation uptake across multiple diverse communities was a complex balance.

Turner said evidence from vaccine mandates overseas showed that if they were directed poorly, isolated individuals, or lacked support, the Government risked backlash and entrenching vaccine ideas.

“It is vital that we continue to focus on genuinely listening to local communities and the range of reasons why some are not taking up vaccination options, and being compassionate to the historic and current reasons behind why some communities have lower trust and lower engagement with health services to avoid, wherever possible, further marginalisation.”

She said the extra funding for local vaccine service delivery was important to help communities develop their own solutions to vaccine hesitancy.