During this election campaign the Outdoors Party have become increasingly concerned about the level of censorship being exercised, particularly around the debate on COVID-19; and the flip flops from the World Health Organisation that now states that lockdowns are not the best way of handling the pandemic, when a recent study from Scotland suggests they may actually prolong the epidemic.

To address this problem, and to have a productive and open appraisal of all the evidence from around the world, the ODP propose that a COVID Panel be convened, with experts from diverse fields of public health, as well as a wide cross-section of the community, and including dissenting voices, to formulate the best way forward, because the government has painted New Zealand into a corner, with the only way out being through a vaccine that may never materialise.

None of the present parties in government have a plan B, despite Winston Peters acknowledging that after 40 years there is still no vaccine for HIV-AIDS, another RNA virus. Not only are coronaviruses notoriously difficult to produce vaccines for, but in the case of COVID, the most vulnerable group, the elderly, generally do not have an effective response to any vaccine.

Dr Simon Thornley, and other experts do have a COVID Plan B, and thousands of infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists from all around the world have signed The Great Barrington Declaration recommending an approach they call 'focused protection' with the goal being to minimise mortality and social harm until herd immunity is achieved.

The Outdoors Party 3-point plan to conquer COVID goes one step further by proposing to mobilise an army of helpers to boost the immune systems of the whole team of 5 million, starting with those working in high risk areas, such as the border, and those most vulnerable, being the elderly and immuno-compromised, while the COVID Panel consider the options and deliver their considered conclusions within 30 days. Not only would the Outdoors Party require the Ministry of Health to provide suitable supplementation of vitamins, and minerals such as zinc, and advice for other measures to enhance people's resistance to infections, but they would also lift the GST of all organic produce, to make these natural immune-boosters more accessible and affordable to every New Zealander.

The COVID Panel may well come up with what Gary Moller calls in his Great Escape Plan, the 'careful Swedish model', with the intention to gently waft COVID-19 into and through New Zealand, among the fit and healthy, to build increasing viral resistance and achieve good herd immunity, as Sweden now appears to enjoy. 'This would be best done through the Summer months when the transmission of viruses is seasonally low and weak', he says.

Moller goes on further with a battle-plan the Outdoors Party claims makes perfect sense:

'The way we strengthen our immune system, other than feeding and equipping it, is to exercise it and to exercise it constantly. We do this by exposing our bodies to everyday bugs including minor infectious diseases like the common cold, soil, animals and even seasonal influenza. One caveat: we expose ourselves to these when we are fit and well, not when we are stressed and run down.'

Sweden's chief epidemiologist, Dr Anders Tegnell, courageously stuck to his guns, despite mounting criticism, to follow a similar plan, which looks promising, and, in light of this apparent success, it is hard to understand why Helen Clark has not included Sweden in the comparison of the responses of eight different countries to the pandemic. This underscores the need for an independent COVID Panel to assess the data dispassionately, even if it does result in a criticism of the way NZ has handled the crisis.

According to the Outdoors Party, the strategy of supplementation and public education is in itself a no-brainer. After a month of boosting the populations resistance to infections, the country would be ready for a roll out of a careful Swedish model, if the COVID Panel found that to be the favoured option, and, if nothing else the increase in health would potentially save billions of dollars in reduced sickness, without any downside.

Jane Goodall has claimed we have brought COVID on ourselves by disrespecting nature. The third part of the plan to conquer COVID looks at long term provisions to minimise the risks of any future epidemics. Here the Outdoors Party have a raft of policies that recognise that our best interests as human beings are served when we align ourselves with Nature. They call for the adoption of organic regenerative agriculture: localism rather then globalism to empower rural communities: and to have integrative health centres where people have a choice of therapies, free of the stranglehold the pharmaceutical industry presently exerts, as evidenced by the continued suppression of treatments for the coronavirus.

Co-leader, Sue Grey, standing for the Outdoors Party in Nelson, says that the first step would be to immediately repeal the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act since it violates our Bill of Rights.

The full policy may be found through the Outdoors Party website under their policies for Thriving Communities.

www.outdoorsparty.co.nz

Or directly on the page 'Conquering COVID' at:

www.STOP366.wordpress.com

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