Doctors and nurses seek more signatures for pro-vax open letters

“We are there to spread the word for doctors and to be encouraging to people who are sitting on the fence”

A last push is on for doctors to sign up to an open letter supporting COVID-19 vaccination, with nurses and pharmacists also well down the track with their open vax support letters.

Elspeth Frascatore, the Auckland emergency physician behind the Doctors Stand Up for Vaccination movement, says she is thrilled with the 5500 signatures to date.

But the group has extended the deadline to 14 October to give as many doctors as possible the opportunity to sign up.

The campaign’s aim is to put out a “united and evidence-based voice” in support of vaccination and to counter misinformation circulating on the COVID-19 virus and vaccines.

Once signatures close, the organisers will verify the Medical Council numbers of all doctor signatories in readiness for publishing the letter and every vetted name on a yet-to-be-finalised platform.

“We really hope that’s going to be a powerful message – seeing the thousands of names listed below the letter,” says Dr Frascatore.

The Scottish-trained doctor says she has many friends working in emergency departments and intensive care units in the UK and “the word from the NHS is stark and confronting”.

Working on the frontline she is very aware how devastating the impact could be if COVID-19 took hold here.

“New Zealand has got this right so far, it has done really well and been held up internationally for its pandemic response

“We just need to make sure we are held up internationally for its vaccination response as well.”

Asked about whether vaccination should be mandatory for doctors she says Doctors Stand Up for Vaccination does not have a position on mandatory vaccination. “Personally, I think that healthcare workers 100 per cent should be vaccinated.”

READ MORE:

• 5000 doctors go public for vaccine; five anti-vax colleagues attract HDC complaints
• Wellington doctor's anti-vaccination text message to patients being taken 'very seriously' by Medical Council
• Complaints as doctors push anti-vax views

The campaign, which began on 1 September and includes a twitter handle to support its pro-vaccination message, has attracted little backlash from anti-vaccination proponents, says Dr Frascatore.

“Very rarely you might get a negative response – but it has been pretty overwhelmingly positive, that we’ve been aware of anyway.”

Asked about Twitter trolls, she says “they are always there”.

“But we set out from the outset that this is a positive group and initiative, and we are not out there to get into arguments with anybody. We are there to spread the word for doctors and to be encouraging to people who are sitting on the fence.”

Dr Frascatore says she is not only heartened by the number of signatures the campaign has received but also the endorsements from about 50 medical bodies on the website. “At the current time I don’t think there is any [medical] society or college that isn’t on there.”

A similar letter campaign has been started called Nurses of Aotearoa New Zealand Supporting Vaccination.

To date, it has collected the signatures of more than 1500 nurses from general practices, DHBs, hospices, Māori health providers, aged care, rural hospitals, prisons, nursing schools and private hospitals, and including many nurse vaccinators.

The letter says nurses have observed the “extraordinary stresses” COVID-19 has placed on healthcare systems overseas and the people who work in them.

“In Aotearoa New Zealand, we too have seen that nobody is safe when COVID-19 is loose in the community, that here too nurses and other health workers have contracted the disease, and that the majority of those who contract community COVID infections are the tangata whenua and populations who already suffer under inequitable systems of healthcare.”

It says not only do the signatories support vaccination but all proven public health measures which protect “our ability to address the other healthcare needs of our community rather than become overwhelmed by COVID-19”.

“By following this advice, we ensure our country is safe.”

A campaign is also under way to get pharmacists to sign a similar open letter to show a united front by pharmacists in support of COVID-19 vaccination and to thank people for supporting vaccination by local pharmacies.