Schools don't want to be targeted by anti-vaxxers - Hipkins

February 8, 2022
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins

The Government says while schools want to support the vaccine rollout, there are also concerns educational facilities doubling as vaccination sites can become targets of abuse.

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said at a post-Cabinet press conference on Tuesday it was "a re-occurring theme" in conversations with school representatives.

"The connection between health and education comes up regularly in the conversations that we are having with iwi, with Māori health providers," Hipkins said.

"And I think everybody acknowledges that there are issues that go both ways when it comes to the greater use of schools and the greater involvement of schools in a vaccine rollout.

"There is no question there are strong levels of support for tamariki to be vaccinated but there is also some concern that schools can and have become the targets of some pretty aggressive and, in some cases, very nasty anti-vax sentiment."

He said it was a careful line to tread, and while schools want to be involved and supportive they "don't want to find themselves targeted".

Hipkins said it was contraindicated to create an environment where vaccination delivery in a school setting actually "increases" resistance to the vaccination rollout, rather than "help us to overcome it".

Meanwhile, National said it wanted to expedite the vaccine rollout for those aged between 5 to 11. To achieve that, the party wanted to host pop-up vaccination clinics in schools, with “strict parental consent provisions in place”.

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