160 'Vaccine' Exemptions for Mandated Staff at Fire & Emergency New Zealand

Response to another Official Info Act request about those Kiwis who managed to 'dodge a bullet'.

NZ Fire Station, Source: Wiki Commons

I’ve written on here previously - numerous times - about the ‘vaccine’ exemptions that were awarded to healthcare staff in New Zealand at the height of the craziness:

On the basis that other NZ Public Sector workers were also mandated at various times, I was suspicious that there were other hidden elements of these numbers. Were there other people who had not been entirely honest with their colleagues, patients, students or customers, about their own status - and kept silent about their dissent? How many were there out there, still silent today? Why won’t they speak up?

Although it appears that most of the application forms went direct to the Minister for Health for consideration in a regular Governmental committee meeting, I sent OIAs to all the other Government depts that were effected by the mandates, Corrections, Border Control, Transport, Education etc to see what other clues I could collate about what actually happened. A picture in emerging, but this takes time.

Here is the latest info from the Fire & Emergency NZ, which is a service largely run by volunteers (80% of FTE staff). This is because of our sparse population in rural landscapes and other social issues. Fire & Emergency don’t just tackle fires, they are also frequently involved in all kinds of emergency situations, and are often trained paramedics. They are also involved in workplace training programmes, fire permits and surveys. This is a recent breakdown of their staffing and volunteers:

Extract from Fire & Emergency NZ Annual Report (2002)

I hadn’t realised until today, that our country has been split into five (seemingly abstract) different regions by Fire & Emergency, using words that I’m sorry, I don’t recognise and can’t interpret from my (old) Maori dictionary:

So, I apparently live in Nga Tai ki te Puku, formally Region 2. I’m not sure what rationale Fire and Emergency have used to make this change, other than subscribing to some strange woke agenda? For interest, here is the ethnicity summary of the service (from their latest Annual Report):

Anyway, leaving that controversial issue aside, Fire & Emergency tells me there was an extensive (bureaucratic) process set-up in March 2022, to deal with the ‘vaccine’ mandate exemption applications, as they explain:

“The people involved with developing processes and procedures were from the Mandatory Vaccination Project Team, which involved a Project Manager, Project Co-ordinator, Legal Counsel, and Human Resources and Communications Advisers, with representation from Service Delivery as and when necessary. Decisions were made, and documents signed off, by a Governance Group which included the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Chief Executive, Deputy Chief Executive, People, and Deputy Chief Executive Service Delivery.”

The cost of all this time, personnel, paperwork and other processes must have been significant. Some staff members could apply individually via their GP, and some staff went through the Fire & Emergency NZ system, which would include the above ‘team’ of people. No-one was provided with a Medical Exemption apparently - these were only Significant Service Disruption (SSD) exemptions (ie Fire & Emergency could not operate without these staff members in role).

The drawn-out process is explained in this flow diagram:

From the total of over 14,500 staff (paid and unpaid), only 177 applications for SSD exemptions to the ‘vaccine’ mandate were listed in the OIA response (less than 2%). Most applications (160) were made through the group Fire & Emergency ‘Vaccination Project Team’ process rather than individually. None were listed as ‘declined’ - although some were listed as “pending” and the author of the OIA response, Ethan Fett, Acting Manager Information Requests (funny how so many of these managers are ‘Interim’ or ‘Acting’), tells me that:

“these [pending applications] were still outstanding at the time clause 7A was inserted which likely meant an exemption was no longer necessary as the Order provided an exception for those with a recent COVID-19 infection.”

To clarify, at that time, staff could obtain an exemption from the covid vaccination order for (a totally arbitrary) 100 days after a positive covid test, after the law changed. In true George Orwell style, for those who had by now, caught onto the covid scam, screenshots of positive tests were subsequently deemed of value and could be exchanged over social media. I wonder how many staff were repeatedly ‘infected’ to stretch out their deadline?

Of course, as well as this process, many volunteers would have simply stepped away (either temporarily or permanently) from their roles. Paid staff would have had the option to have leave with/out pay or other types of agreed absence, or even retirement. These are all unknown factors of this jigsaw from every sector impacted by the mandates.

An interestingly high number of 39 (22%) of applicants for exemptions came from the smallest and most sparsely population region, Te Hiku. Northern North Island is rural and has a high ratio of Māori, which may explain their lack of confidence in Government diktats. One single approved exemption was for a staff member in their National Headquarters (presumably a senior manager?). 39% (n = 69) of total applications were from volunteers.

It is claimed that there were no Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) completed by Fire & Emergency NZ, so that could mean that there is no reason why more whistleblowers aren’t coming forward to tell their story.

More to follow on this exemption issue over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!