Journalists:

The rest of the world looks up to New Zealand for COVID-19 decisions. What advice would you give the countries that are still battling? COVID?

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Dr Ashley Bloomfield

Well, that's a great question. the best advice I can give is to is two things. First of all, always keep looking and learning what the science says. Be prepared to change your mind or do things differently. And you know, you've got to do things differently, be really prepared to change what you're doing in response to what's happening. So that's something that served us really well here in New Zealand. And I think that's why we've continued to really good responses because we're always curious about what's working in other countries. And we're always looking to see how we can do things better.

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Journalists

How do you feel about everyone knowing who you are? And how did this change your daily life?

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Dr Ashley Bloomfield

Well, yeah, it's a really strange thing. Because now when I walk down the street, people recognize me. And some of them come up to me and they say, Oh, hi, Dr. Bloomfield, can I get a selfie, please? I've done 1000s of selfies. But the lovely, most wonderful thing is, as all those people that come out, no one has said anything mean or rude to me. They just come up and they say, "thank you for what you and your team have done to look after us." So they're really grateful. That being said, my wife had to get used to taking photos of me with other people. Because a lot of people ask. It's just that it's just a different thing, not something I ever expected. But here's how I think about it: If I saw Beauden Barrett walking down the street, I'd love to go out and say hello, and I'd love to have a selfie with him. So I guess I sort of think about it like that because I know who he is. And I really, I really admire how good he is at rugby.

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Journalists

When you were our age (9-11) What did you want to be when you grew up?

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Dr Ashley Bloomfield

Oh, gosh, you know, I wasn't so sure at that age. I decided when I was about 14 that I wanted to train to be a doctor. But when I was nine or 11 I think I was just too busy having fun. Riding my bike, building trolleys, racing trolleys, playing rugby on the weekends, I learned the piano and the guitar. So I was practicing those things. Doing homework of course, and doing my best in school. But I didn't really want to know what I don't know what I wanted to do at that age.

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Journalists

What's the best part about your job?

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Dr Ashley Bloomfield

The best part about it is it's certainly definitely the people I work with. They're just fantastic. They're smart. They work so hard, they are totally committed to what they do.

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Journalists

How does it feel to stand up in front of everyone and press conferences?

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Dr Ashley Bloomfield

Oh, my gosh, you know, I've done probably hundreds of these now. And I've got one at one o'clock today, by the way. We're doing it once a week and then tomorrow I'm traveling to Auckland with the Prime Minister to do another one about the sort of vaccine vaccination program. How does it feel? You know, I still get nervous every time and it's because it's quite a big thing. Especially if you're on on live TV, it's being broadcast or webcast. So what makes me make sure I do is do really good.