Covid 19 Delta outbreak: 2 million vax passes issued, chemist shops and postal options added

Name: Focus Live: 173 new cases of Covid-19 in the community
Uploaded: 2021-11-26T13:00:00+13:00
Duration: 354 s
Description: November 26 2021. There are 173 new cases of Covid-19 in the community today. Of those cases, 154 are in Auckland, 15 are in the Waikato, one is in Northland, two are in the Bay of Plenty and one is in Lakes DHB. There is also a case in Canterbury, who was already in isolation.

NZ Herald

25 Nov, 2021 08:02 PM2 mins to read

November 26 2021. There are 173 new cases of Covid-19 in the community today. Of those cases, 154 are in Auckland, 15 are in the Waikato, one is in Northland, two are in the Bay of Plenty and one is in Lakes DHB. There is also a case in Canterbury, who was already in isolation.

People will now be able to go to local chemist shops to get their vaccine pass as demand soars ahead of the new traffic light Covid protection framework being introduced next week.

The Ministry of Health says it has issued more than two million My Vaccine Passes and, with demand continuing to grow, has now released additional options for people to obtain their My Vaccine Pass.

It includes adding more calltakers on its helpline, a postal option and over-the-counter at 400 pharmacies across New Zealand.

It comes as call centres face unprecedented demand, with 70,000 calls alone received yesterday on the ministry's 0800 number.

"More than 50 per cent of people in New Zealand that are fully vaccinated have now received their My Vaccine Pass. The new online system we built for my Vaccine Pass has worked incredibly well with these volumes," said the ministry's national digital services group manager Michael Dreyer.

"We are expecting a lot more requests in the coming days online, however it has been our call centres that have faced unprecedented demand with higher volumes experienced than vaccine bookings.

The fastest option to get a My Vaccine Pass is online but for those people who need extra assistance, three call centres were now operating with extended hours.

"In addition to postal and online generation of the passes, we are rolling out an option for people that prefer to deal with someone face-to-face.

"Over the next couple of days, customers will be able to go to a pharmacy and request their My Vaccine Pass.

"Nearly 400 pharmacies around the country currently providing Covid-19 vaccinations will now also be able to assist people with getting a vaccine pass," said Dreyer.

The priority of pharmacies was to dispense medicines but they were ready to assist people who did not have internet access or would prefer this option, he said.

Customers were asked to continue to be patient as staff at call centres and pharmacies did their best to assist with queries and help people generate their My Vaccine Pass.