Remember when we weren't supposed to mention the jab at parties? Well, Gary's going there anyway with physicist Shaun Hendy, one of the scientists who helped steer New Zealand through COVID and copped plenty of hate mail for it. Shaun's written a book about the whole saga - the good calls, the mistakes (like not prioritising vaccines for Māori and Pacific people), and why he reckons misinformation is now scarier than the virus itself.

They get into why NZ actually did remarkably well by global standards, why H5N1 bird flu is the thing keeping scientists up at night, and Shaun's slightly unsettling conclusion: the next pandemic isn't an if, it's a when. Oh, and Gary discovers Shaun thanked his wife last in the book's acknowledgements - not the smoothest move, mate.

Tune into A Very Tall Man from Midnight - 6:00am on the Rhema Media App.

For more from the show, visit the A Very Tall Man page at rhema.co.nz

Produced using AI tools under human supervision.

Support A Very Tall Man: https://donate.rhemamedia.co.nz/?utm_source=omnystudio&utm_medium=link

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.