New Zealand’s Prime Minister Agrees That Vaccine Passports Will Create 2 Classes of People

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern answers a question during a press conference at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand, on Oct. 11, 2021. (Robert Kitchin/Pool Photo via AP)

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed that her administration essentially is creating two separate classes of people—vaccinated and unvaccinated—as a result of new mandates and passport systems.

“So, you’ve basically said, this is gonna be like ... and you probably don’t see it like this, as two different classes of people, if you’re vaccinated or if you’re unvaccinated,” an interviewer told Ardern last week. “You have all these rights if you are vaccinated,”

“That it is what it is,” Ardern said in response. “So, yep. Yep.”

Ardern stated that her recent move to implement COVID-19 vaccine certificates is “not just a tool to drive up vaccines,” but “a tool for confidence” across New Zealand.

“People who have been vaccinated will want to know that they’re around other vaccinated people. They’ll want to know that they’re in a safe environment,” she said. “It is a way that we can give confidence to those who are going back into hospitality or events. And so, that is something that I think we should offer to people who have been vaccinated, that confidence that we are doing everything we can to keep them safe and that they can come back out and start enjoying those things safely.”

Ardern’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for additional comment.

Opponents of vaccine mandates, such as requiring that customers or employees provide proof of vaccination before entering a facility, have said that such a system would create a caste-based society between unvaccinated people and those who are vaccinated. Demonstrations against mandates have erupted across the United States, Europe, and Australia in recent weeks.

Some have also criticized vaccine passports as being invasive of an individual’s right to privacy, while others, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have raised concerns that passport databases wouldn’t be able to keep users’ data secure. In an article in late August, the organization said that one prominent passport app would also include an expansion of what it can hold, including driver’s licenses and other health records.

However, mandates have been touted by leaders such as Ardern and U.S. President Joe Biden as being an effective means to increase vaccinations, despite warnings from industry groups and businesses.

While vaccine passport systems have only been implemented in several major U.S. cities, the federal government has instead opted to press large businesses and federal contractors into instituting vaccination requirements.

On Sept. 9, Biden announced that private companies that have 100 or more workers will have to implement a vaccine requirement or have workers submit to weekly testing, a move that has drawn criticism from Republican leaders and some industry groups.