RELEASED: 15 JANUARY 2026!
Many Kiwis paid dearly—with their health—amid the nation's virus battle during New Zealand’s covid vaccine roll-out. This confessional-style web series offers a heartfelt tribute to the vaccine-injured's endurance and experience, and to the families of those who lost their lives from the jab.
Made by professionals: Directed by Gaylene Barnes (River of Freedom, 2023) and filmed by award-winning cinematographer Mark Lapwood — THE TRIBUTE is an episodic weekly web series sharing stories of the Covid-19 vaccine injured New Zealanders.
Some were coerced to receive the vaccine under threat of job loss or to retain access to society; others trusted the government and rolled up their sleeves to be a part of the team of five million—but for all these New Zealanders, that vaccination event was life-altering—they were harmed.
They tell us about the way they were treated by the New Zealand health system. Many are seriously ill, yet still fighting for care and financial support. They were belittled by health professionals and stigmatised when seeking help for vaccine injury. They have to fight for acknowledgement of what seems obvious—that the Covid vaccination event immediately caused their sudden loss of health.
THE TRIBUTE gives a voice to these vaccine injured people, some of the many thousands across the country. They talk about how angry they were to discover the truth, having been denied informed consent—the risks, benefits and alternatives—during the government's sustained narrative on the benefits of the vaccine with no full disclosure of potential harms.
The New Zealand Bill of Rights 1990 ensures all Kiwi's have the right to “refuse to undergo medical treatment”—why was this right to choose so blatantly ignored? They all agree: It is never acceptable for the State to breach the rights of New Zealanders to refuse medical treatment.
They speak of the fear, censorship and silencing that lied at the heart of the New Zealand pandemic response. They ask, why are we paying the price? And, how do we ensure this never happens again?
This ongoing series is a tribute to the injured—whose stories can drive change. Many of the Covid-19 vaccine injured are finding healing outside of the mainstream medical model. They're finding treatments to help live diminished lives with hope. Others are struggling to move on. They have found support from long time advocates such as Lynda Wharton from The Health Forum NZ and from New Zealand Doctors Speaking Out with Science, amongst others. Yet collectively, they are determined to speak out and inspire others—to prevent this ever happening again.
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Will you help us make this web series?
Your donation will help the management, publicity, editing as well as more filming across New Zealand in order to hear from as many voices as possible and help us to reach as wide an audience as possible. This professional artistic and animated web series, streamed across multiple platforms, will be a powerful continuous and ongoing record of Covid vaccine injured New Zealanders—stories that need to be heard by all.
Directed, Produced and Edited by Gaylene Barnes, River of Freedom
Cinematography by Mark Lapwood, River of Freedom
In association with Lynda Wharton, The Health Forum NZ
Publicity by Aly Cook
Music by Hadleigh Oudemans
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