Health New Zealand’s chief clinical advisor is encouraging people to look only at “trusted sources of information” when trying to find answers to health questions.
Sharon Sime, Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand Chief Clinical Advisor Health Protection – was responding to questions from The News about a pre-Christmas post on the New Zealand Doctors Speaking Out with Science website which asked if the government was using a measles outbreak to create a “fear for compliance” again.
The website referred to the Covid vaccination programme as a “terrible three year jabicide”.
Shane Reti
It was responding to a statement from health minister Shane Reti who reported plans were in place for a response to an outbreak, most likely measles, over a defined period – December 23 to January 7.
The planning was in place – but in fact there have been no new measles cases reported in New Zealand since November.
“Misinformation can spread very easily in a range of different ways, such as through social media, websites, pamphlets, posters and letterbox drops, and even via television, radio and print,” Sime told The News.
“One of the best ways to stop misinformation spreading is by only reading official sources… we all have a responsibility to do this and if people see any examples of misinformation about health issues… we encourage them to report it.
The website said a vaccine will decrease the chance of catching measles, but that it used to be called a ‘childhood disease’ until there was a vaccine to sell “and then it became a serious, highly contagious, life-threatening disease”.
A measles epidemic in 2019 infected almost 2200 people in New Zealand and resulted in two deaths. In Samoa where 5700 people caught the disease, 83 died. At that time vaccinations rates there had dropped to under 35 per cent – three months later it was up to about 94 per cent.
