Dr Ashley Bloomfield is the Director-General of Health in New Zealand, the departmental head of Health, and the chief advisor on Covid restrictions. In the first year of the Covid outbreak he became a well-known figure in the daily press conferences the Prime Minister staged, a trusted figure, and something of a celebrity. Now his figures on Covid-related deaths can’t be trusted, and, more significantly, nor can his department’s weekly reports on the deaths that occur from the administration of the Pfizer vaccine. Such a death has only been acknowledged once, and the so-called news media show no interest in investigating it further, despite the fact there have been a further 93 reports of deaths.

So we have to be clear here. The reported deaths from Covid in New Zealand have just reached 30, with most being from April and May 2020. There has been the new Delta outbreak in Auckland since August, with initially only 2 recorded deaths. But in the last three days there has been a report of death each day of Covid positive cases who were found dead in their homes, and not in ‘managed isolation’ facilities or in hospital. Even the media have felt obliged to ask Dr Bloomfield why these cases were not receiving proper medical attention. Bloomfield has tried to suggest that they were being monitored, and that there were other medical conditions involved, so he does necessarily accept that Covid was the cause. Indeed yesterday he proposed that the definitions of the cause of death would be changed, and reported differently.

This would appear to be similar to the approach taken by the ‘Medsafe’ authority, a part of the health ministry that oversees the safety of medicines in New Zealand. It issues a ‘safety report’ on Covid 19 vaccines, based on reports of side effects and deaths from the Pfizer vaccine (called Comirnaty), from patients as well as medical practitioners. The most recent report was published yesterday, 10 November, but it has a time lag, so is based on October data. I shall be referring to the previous report (#33), issued on 3 November, with data based on reports up until 16 October [https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/safety-report-33.asp#death]. The key thing about these reports is that they never give a total number for the number of deaths reported: the headline is always the number of reports, and how many are deemed to be ‘serious’, as well as the number of doses administered; this is obviously an effort to not highlight reported deaths. The reports always state the number of deaths reported that week, but denies any causal link, that is, until Medsafe has investigated the report, and has referred it to the Coroner.

So it is easy enough to add up the number of reported deaths up to the 16th October, and we get 94; but only one of these deaths is seen as being likely caused by Comirnaty. Of the rest, 40 are classified as being ‘unlikely’; there is ‘insufficient’ information on 38 of the reports; and there were still 15 cases under investigation. In the week that followed there were 3 more deaths reported, but the overall number stayed the same, apparently due to double reporting. Anyway, of the 30 000 in the ‘non-serious’ category, in the #33 report, about a third are reported by patients, and only 2195 by General Practitioners. Obviously GPs are reluctant to report side effects having been instructed to emphasise the safety of the vaccine programme. Back to the safety report, the interesting thing was the figures for reports of Pericarditis and Myocarditis up to 14 October: combining the totals, there were 61 reports based on the patients taking the first dose, and 57 examples following patients taking the second dose. But there is no link between these conditions and the number of deaths, apart from the acknowledgement of myocarditis in one death.

I suppose that it is good that these reports are still being published, given that the Ardern administration is now relying on fearmongering and propaganda, as well as mandatory vaccination. But the ambiguity of the reports, and the element of obfuscation in the details is completely unsatisfactory. There is a wide gulf between reports of 94 deaths, at a current rate of 3 per week, and the statements that ‘Comirnarty’ is safe. How many deaths would be required before the Pfizer drug is going to be seriously questioned, unlikely given the reluctance to find any causation for the other 93 deaths. Interestingly, Dr Bloomfield announced yesterday that he was going to introduce the Astra Zeneca vaccine next month. But this is only for those with medical exemptions, where it is acknowledged that Pfizer is not safe, and is arbitrarily limited to 100 cases; and it will also be offered to those workers facing dismissal in the areas where mandatory vaccination is being enforced, but that does not mean that others can choose it over Comirnaty.

Bloomfield has obviously realised that some workers are not buying into the fearmongering and propaganda associated with the Ardern administration, and that key health and education institutions may not function if workers are fired for defying the mandate. The ‘anti-vaxxers’ were previously assumed to be misinformed, and had to face penalties to comply with public health orders, but since it appears that some midwives and teachers won’t be forced into vaccination, another option has had to be found. There are even protests now, including a large one outside Parliament on Tuesday. The barricades went up to protect the members from the rabble, as they cowered inside with Police defending their freedom of speech, but they were too cowardly to come out and speak. Four protestors died in a road crash on their way home to the coastal city of New Plymouth, three being employed at a local school. A terrible tragedy, but at least they stood up for civil liberties, and against the discrimination promoted by Ardern and Bloomfield.

Update 27/11/21: In the most recent ‘safety report’ on Comirnaty, Medsafe refer to being sad about 6 more deaths from the vaccine. Of course, they still don’t accept any causation, but apparently investigate the cause, before usually deciding that there is insufficient information to determine either way. This may be the last safety report, because basically the government doesn’t care who dies any more. Unless it was from Covid, and the patient was in hospital. In a question at the Prime Minister’s press conference on Monday, a male journalist dared to ask why the Ministry of Health would not confirm that ‘fully vaccinated’ patients had died from Covid 19. This got a withering look from Ardern who is used to the cosy club of press gallery members, mostly female journalist/supplicants, who only ask acceptable questions. But Dr Bloomfield, presumably feeling a residual sense of professionalism, came back on Wednesday and confirmed that 3 ‘fully vaccinated’ patients had died from Covid 19. But he insisted that the vaccine was still over 90% effective, and much better than not having it (despite 103 reported cases of death by Comirnaty). Funny how the experts always come up with 90% as the effectiveness rate.

Update 9/12//21: The Medsafe ‘safety report’ is now issued fortnightly. This might explain why the reported deaths from injecting Comirnaty have increased by 14. But at 7 per week the deaths have also doubled, and the total is now at 117. The total deaths due to Covid since March 2020 is now at 44. Medsafe still dismiss the reports of death due to the Pfizer drug, with 51 deemed ‘unlikely’; but 58 cases have been deemed to have insufficient information, which is half of the reports. Medsafe’s claim that the reports are being investigated is utterly disingenuous, and not finding any evidence compelling is all the more unconvincing as reports rise. The use of Pfizer will also now decline somewhat as the Astra Zeneca version has been introduced, though not promoted with the hard sell and mandates like Pfizer.