Update 4 April 2022 | From Tuesday 5 April vaccine passes will not be needed at council sites and facilities. Masks, physical distancing and staying home if sick is still vital. Read more about our updated approach to vaccination here.
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Original story:
Auckland Council began reviewing its overall approach to vaccination earlier this month, in anticipation of changes and following its commitment to regular reviews.
The council’s approach is based on a risk assessment which determines the risk associated with the virus across the whole organisation and assesses the effectiveness of control mechanisms. One of these control mechanisms is vaccination.
“We are currently finishing a review of our risk assessment which will then inform any necessary updates to our approach to vaccination,” says Paul Robertson, General Manager of Health, Safety and Wellbeing.
This week's update (23 March) from the government signals changes to the COVID-19 Protection Framework (traffic light system).
“We will be considering all changes made by the government to the traffic light system, the health order and vaccine mandates, as we review our approach. Our work will also consider updated health advice,” says Mr Robertson.
“Until we have completed our review, our position and approach to vaccination remains the same.”
Visit our website to read more about our position on COVID-19 vaccination, including our risk assessment, how we’ve approached vaccination with council employees and elected members, our interim customer vaccination position and a policy for our contractors.
Changes to Red traffic light settings
Government changes to the Red settings under the COVID-19 Protection Framework affects some of our sites and services.
We’re looking at how increasing the number of people able to gather indoors, and removing limits for outdoor gatherings, will affect our sites – like the Auckland Botanic Gardens, our cemeteries and venues for hire.
We’ll update guidance on our website from 11.59pm on Friday 25 March.
Scanning in using QR codes and the NZ COVID Tracer App, or manually signing in, will no longer be required when entering our buildings or facilities, however you may still see QR codes around for some time to come.
“There are thousands of QR codes fixed to windows, walls and buildings across the region and we’re not going to rush to remove these,” says Mr Robertson. “As the Prime Minister said, we may need to use this tool again in the future and the technology will remain available – we’re just not enforcing its use.”
