The Ministry of Health has said that the approximately 70,000 people still waiting for their My Vaccine Pass will be emailed a temporary exemption.
In a statement, the ministry said some people still waiting for official assistance to obtain their pass would be given an interim solution.
The temporary exemption is a record of the individual’s request for assistance and has a unique identifier. It can be shown to businesses and organisations that require a My Vaccine Pass and is valid until 11.59pm on December 14, 2021.
There are currently about 70,000 requests for assistance, however, including people who need to add international vaccinations to their New Zealand record; people who need their name changed; and people whose records have other errors that need to be corrected.
“While this represents a small percentage of the 3 million My Vaccine Passes that have been issued to date, it is important these individuals are not unfairly disadvantaged when New Zealand moves to the Covid Protection Framework tonight,” Michael Dreyer, the ministry’s group manager for national digital services, said.
“The temporary exemption is a pragmatic measure in response to the unprecedented demand our call centres are facing. We have scaled up our processing team significantly, but it is likely that not every request will be able to be resolved by tomorrow [Friday].
“If you are waiting to hear back from our call centre or service desk, keep an eye on your email including your junk folder. If your My Vaccine Pass is not available today, you will get an exemption email tonight.
“Over the next few days, we will also be phoning people who have outstanding requests with us but who have not provided an email address.”
The fastest and easiest way to get a My Vaccine Pass is via mycovidrecord.health.nz. People can also get help from participating pharmacies, general practices, and hauora and DHB vaccination clinics. People should call ahead, check the Healthpoint website or the individual organisation’s website.
“If you need to contact our call centre, we want to hear from you but please be patient. Our staff are working hard to help people generate their My Vaccine Pass as quickly as possible.”
