Ardern’s covid policy was her ‘greatest legacy’ — but also her undoing

Jacinda Ardern was on a work trip to a beach town in northern New Zealand almost exactly a year ago when her van was suddenly surrounded by anti-vaccine protesters. They called the prime minister a “Nazi” for requiring some workers get a coronavirus vaccine, and chanted “shame on you.” Some screamed obscenities. When a car tried to block Ardern’s exit, her van was forced to drive onto the curb to escape.

Ardern didn’t mention the protests or the extreme rhetoric or the threats she faced. But she did mention the coronavirus pandemic. And in many ways, her management of the health crisis was her greatest success, but it also made her a divisive figure in New Zealand.

“I think it will probably be her greatest legacy,” said Michael Baker, an epidemiologist who served as an outside adviser to Ardern’s government during the pandemic. He likened Ardern to Winston Churchill, who shepherded the United Kingdom though World War II only to lose the 1945 election.

“It’s very hard to even imagine navigating through such an extreme threat that has been so prolonged,” he said. “At the end of it there was a deep bitterness over the experience people had been through, and unfortunately to some extent it’s been directed at her even though she’s done an extraordinary job.”

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