At the end of July, Pharmac made the decision to expand eligibility to a fully funded Meningococcal B vaccine to all children under five. This decision has been supported and welcomed by the Meningitis Foundation, who say it will benefit over seventy thousand children in New Zealand.
Now, the Foundation is calling for eligibility to be increased to a higher age limit, to account for all young people in New Zealand. Currently, younger people’s access to the funded vaccine is dependent on whether or not they fit a specific criteria, such as a first year student in halls, and the Foundation believes that young people would benefit greatly from the expanding of these criteria to cover a larger portion of the vulnerable young population.
Producer Alex spoke to Gerard Rushton, the chair of the Meningitis Foundation, about Pharmac’s decision, how meningitis affects young people, and why we should be expanding the eligibility to take care of young New Zealanders.
This Day in History takes us back to 1973, for the first official deployment of US troops to the Vietnam War, to expand on their existing support for the government of South Vietnam.
Performer and choreographer Suzanne Cowan spoke with Rachel this morning about the panel discussion 'Crip Dance/Dance and Dis-ability' which is happening tonight as part of the Tempo Dance Festival 2020. Whakarongo mai nei to hear about expanded dance, reframing identity and how to tune in this evening.
Our weekly chat with Andrew Little is back! This week Tuva’a Clifton chats with the health minister about the new investment into harm reduction for gambling, as well as free flu jabs being expanded to children and people with mental health issues, and how the flu is straining our hospitals.
This Wire, Ilena talked to Chlöe Swarbrick from the Green party about the drug harm reduction programme Te Ara Oranga.
The Green party is calling on the Government to roll out the programme nationwide as it has been successful in the far North areas that it has been implemented.
They also talked about the announcement of this funding and expansion coming alongside the initial review of ‘police discretion’ Misuse of Drugs Act changes.
The Court of Appeal has heard a Court Case which would consider if Sexual Orientation should be considered under our hate speech laws.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Rainbow Spokesperson for Tika Tangata the Human Rights Commission Prudence Walker about this Court Case and what more needs to be done to protect LGBTQ+ communities under hate speech laws.
They also spoke to Countering Hate Speech Aotearoa CEO Paul Thistoll about the mahi being done to include LGBTQ+ communities under hate speech laws by community groups, as well as the scope of what the Hate Speech Laws would cover.
The Eaton and Palisades fires, the two major fires making up the Los Angeles fires, are now the two most destructive wildfires in Southern California history.
The fires have sparked significant debate about insurance in high-risk natural disaster areas as thousands of Californians lost their home insurance not long before the fires.
And president-elect Donald Trump has returned to the centre stage of United States foreign policy in the weeks leading up to his inauguration.
Trump has threatened to annex Greenland and Canada as well as reclaim the Panama Canal for the United States.
For States of the States this week Wire Host Caeden spoke to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about both of these topics.
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