‘Oku taupotu ‘i lalo ha fakamatala fakaTonga
An American doctor believes more than 800,000 Americans would be alive today, if the US had taken New Zealand’s Covid approach.
Jonathan Howard, who is the chief of neurology at Bellevue Hospital in New York, said he was angry that influential health professionals minimised the seriousness of the virus.
“We want them infected,” was the call of then presidential science adviser Paul Alexander.
It’s also the title of Howard’s new book, which tells the story of how some medical and public health professionals came to become anti-vaccine and pro herd immunity.
He told Kim Hill on Saturday Morning there was a deluge of mis-information from prominent US doctors, some of whom wanted to actually spread the virus.
“Famous doctors from our top universities went on television and told people that Covid was just going away, that it was just the flu, that young people under the age of 65 have essentially no risk,” he said.
“And not only were there not attempts to limit the virus, these were loud influential voices who wanted to spread it.
“You can read quotes from our former Covid advisor, Donald Trump’s former Covid advisor, celebrating rising cases, saying this is a good thing when cases rise, which is shocking and astonishing.”
While Howard said there were obvious differences between the two countries, many lives could have been saved if the US had taken a similar approach to New Zealand.
“If we had limited infections until we had vaccinated the vast majority of our population, we would have potentially had hundreds of thousands of people still alive today, there’s no question about that.”
Jonathan Howard MD and his new book, We Want them Infected. Photo: Jonathan Howard MD
However, our zero-Covid strategy wasn’t without its critics, with Stanford professor Jay Bhattacharya writing that it had “cost New Zealand dearly”.
“I think that the fact that most of your grandparents are still alive means that zero Covid did not cost you dearly,” Howard said in response.
“I don’t discount that, there were real costs of the lockdowns, I don’t know anyone who argues otherwise and I want to be very clear that I was protected from those costs, meaning I am very fortunate to be employed, I worked throughout the pandemic, I was never lonely, I don’t have my own business.”
But Howard said he didn’t think that the alternative – letting the virus spread freely – would have yielded a better outcome.
He said that when forklifts were needed to move bodies into giant refrigerated trucks in New York, it was fantasy to imagine the city could have operated as normal during the pandemic.
“You talk about deferred healthcare – every single healthcare worker was working with Covid patients, our hospitals were overflowing,” he said.
“So when I hear people lament they missed cancer screenings, who would have done those screenings? Would elderly patients have left their house to go to crowded waiting rooms to get a mammogram for example? I don’t think so.
“I think that the fantasy is that things could have just been normal if only if it hadn’t been for overly cautious politicians.”
By comparison, New Zealand did well, Howard said.
“I look at the numbers, I look at your death rate with great jealousy.” he said.
“And I think for long periods of time your economy was more open than ours was because we had to keep locking down, just because there were overwhelming outbreaks of the virus.”
Howard said the fact many older New Zealanders were still alive compared with the US statistics, showed the success of this country’s Covid strategy.
FAKAMATALA FAKATONGA
Oku tui ha toketa āAmelika ne laka hake āi he toko 800,000 ha kakai āAmelika ne mei kei moāui pe āo aāu mai ki he āaho ni kapau ne ngaueāaki āe Amelika āa e founga tauāi āe Nuāu Sila āa e Koviti.
Naāe āita āa Jonathan Howard, ko e pule ia āo e niuolosi āi he Bellevue Hospital i Niuioke āi hono fakamaāamaāaāi he kau polofesinale āo e moāui āa e mafatukituki āo e vailasi.
āāOku tau fiemaāu ke nau pihiaā āa e ui mei he faleāi saienisi fakapalesiteni ko Paul Alexander.
Kuo fakahingoaāaki ia āa e tohi foāou āa Howard, āa ia āoku talaki ai āa e anga e hoko āa ha kau polofesinale he malaāe āo e metikolo mo e moāui āa e kakai ko ha āenitivekisini mo poupouāi āa e herd immunity.
Naāaā ne fakahÄ ki ha Kim Hill he polokalama Saturday Morning naāe āi ai ha fuāu maāunga fakamatala halal ahi ne mahua mei he kau toketÄ āIÅ«āesaā, niāihi āo kinautolu ne nau fiemaāu ke mafola āa e vailasiā.
Ne hÄ mai ha kau toketa āiloa āo kitautolu mei he ngaahi āunivesiti talaaā he televisone āo tala ki he kakai āe āosi pe āa e Koviti pea ko e fuluu pe ia, pea ko e kakai iiki he taāu 65 āoku āikai fakatuāutamaki ia kia kinautolu.
Kau heni āa e ngaahi lea āa taha faleāi ki he Koviti āa e Palesiteni ki muāa āa āAmelika ko Donald Trump a ia ne ne pehe ko e meāa lelei ia ke mafola lahi ange āa e Koviti.
Lolotonga ne pehe āe Howard āoku mahino pe faikehekehe āi he ongo fonua naāe mei haofakiāi ha ngaahi moui lahi āi Amelika kapau ne nau fou he founga āa Nuāu Sila.
āA ia āi heāene lau kapau ne fai ha ngaue ke fakangatangata e mafola āa e pipihi āa e Koviti ne mei tokolahi āa e kakai ne fakahaofi.
Kakehe ko e policy ko ia Zero Covid pe taāofi e mafola āa e Koviti kei fakaangaāi pe o pehe e ha Palofesa mei Stanford ko Jay Bhattacharya ne fua āe Nuāu Sila āa hono faingataāa. Ne ne pehe āe ia ne ne monuāia ia āi āAmelika lolotonga e āikai haāanau zero covid he ne kei lava ke kei ngaue pe ia he uhouhonga āo e to āa e Koviti.
Ka ne pehe āe Howard ko e kei moui aāu mai ki he āaho ni āa e ngaahi kui ko e ola lelei ia āo e fokotuāutuāu ngaue zero covid.
Kia Howard ko ene vakai ko ee ki he fakafehoanaki e ngaahi fika e mate mo e puke āa āAmelika mo Nuāu Sila, ne fuāu to atu āaupito āa Nuāu Sila ia.