Stuff Digital Edition

Finally securing vaccine pass a boost

Katie Townshend katie.townshend@stuff.co.nz

Brent Palmer says he feels for anyone having problems securing their Covid-19 vaccine pass.

The Nelson real estate agent rolled up his sleeve three times to be vaccinated against Covid-19 – but struggled to prove it until Thursday night when, after much waiting, he finally secured his vaccine pass.

He’d had both of his vaccinations and a booster shot, but still couldn’t download his vaccine pass as the second shot wasn’t showing in the system. Only after enlisting the help of his pharmacist did he finally get sent his pass.

‘‘I feel for everybody else who hasn’t got it yet, especially if it affects their work,’’ Palmer said.

The Ministry of Health said the number of ‘‘unresolved anomalies’’ in the system accounts for only about one tenth of a per cent.

On Thursday the ministry announced it was emailing temporary exemptions to people waiting for the individual help needed to obtain their vaccine pass. The exemption is a record of the person’s request for assistance and can be shown to businesses and organisations that require a vaccine pass.

There are currently about 70,000 requests for assistance, including people who need their name changed and people whose records have other errors that need to be corrected.

Palmer first realised something was amiss when he got a message a month ago telling him his second dose of the Pfizer vaccine was due.

‘‘I had both my vaccinations back in April,’’ he said.

He contacted the ministry and was told his vaccinations had been entered into the system as two separate people.

‘‘Basically, they would need to get that fixed,’’ he said.

However, when Palmer went to download his vaccine pass ahead of yesterday’s shift to the Covid-19 Protection Framework, there was still no record of his second dose, which was ‘‘frustrating’’.

This week he received aĀbooster shot. But despite further calls to the Ministry of Health, by Wednesday he still hadn’t managed to get his vaccine pass.

He had been unsure whether he would have been able to host open homes without the pass.

Meanwhile, his son Liam Palmer, who works in a Queenstown hotel, struggled for more than two months to prove he had been vaccinated, after getting his second dose at a drive-through event in August. The 20-year-old has to be vaccinated for his hospitality job, but when he logged on to check his record there was nothing, Liam Palmer said.

‘‘They couldn’t even see my vaccination at all.’’

When he called, he was asked to provide information, including his vaccination cards, which he did, but repeated calls and emails asking for an update went unanswered before he managed to get the pass this week.

The Ministry of Health’s group manager of data and digital, Michael Dreyer, said there were about 4000 ‘‘unresolved anomalies’’ compared with the 3.8 million people who had received their first dose.

‘‘The Ministry of Health is committed to resolving any identified data problems or issues that are brought to our attention.’’

However, that did not change the inconvenience for those affected by problems, he said.

Anomalies in the data can exist for various reasons. In many cases the record exists but for some reason a field is incomplete. This is usually straightforward to rectify.

In cases like Palmer’s, where a dose hadn’t been recorded, it could take longer to fix, Dreyer said.

‘‘The ministry is working as quickly and accurately as it can to improve the data quality and integrity of the Covid Immunisation Register.’’

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2021-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281638193489295

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