𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕖𝕣 𝔻𝕚𝕣𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕠𝕣-𝔾𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕝 𝕠𝕗 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕥𝕙 𝕊𝕚𝕣 𝔸𝕤𝕙𝕝𝕖𝕪 𝔹𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕞𝕗𝕚𝕖𝕝𝕕 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕜𝕟𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕖𝕕

𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕖𝕣 𝔻𝕚𝕣𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕠𝕣-𝔾𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕝 𝕠𝕗 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕥𝕙 𝕊𝕚𝕣 𝔸𝕤𝕙𝕝𝕖𝕪 𝔹𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕞𝕗𝕚𝕖𝕝𝕕 𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕜𝕟𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕒𝕥 𝔾𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕟𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥 ℍ𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕖 𝕠𝕟 𝕎𝕖𝕕𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕕𝕒𝕪.

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ir Ashley was joined by members of his whānau for the ceremony, highlighting his work in guiding Aotearoa through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking to the media after the ceremony, Sir Ashley was joined by the Prime Minister, providing a sense of Déjà vu to the heights of the pandemic when Chris Hipkins was the COVID-19 Response Minister.

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Sir Ashley said the honour is a "huge privilege".

Watch: Ex-Director-General of Health Sir Ashley Bloomfield formally knighted https://t.co/39gUsUTZbP

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"Every time I think about it I immediately think of all the people who I worked with, their faces are vivid in my memory, who did just fantastic work."

Sir Ashley isn't sure where he will hang his award but said he will "enjoy wearing it today".

Hipkins said Sir Ashley's honour is "absolutely incredible".

"Sir Ashley thoroughly deserves the recognition and so do all of the other public servants who we've also been able to recognise in a variety of different ways over the past year or so."

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Hipkins remembers the "quiet, calm reassurance" Sir Ashley provided throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Some days were more stressful than others because things would happen and you'd need to respond quickly and so on, but in the time that I was working with Ashley he was always just such a voice of calm and reassurance."

"I don't think I would've been able to do the job without his support," Hipkins added.

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