News today that it will be won’t be until late November that Kiwis will be able to prove their vaccination status in easily downloadable and printable form is disgraceful, says National Covid Recovery spokesperson Chris Bishop.

“A week ago we were told by the Government that vaccine authentication would be ready ‘in November’. This is way too late anyway, with many countries already way ahead of us.

“Today we learned that ‘in November’ actually means ‘the end of November’. This is just like the time that the Government said Group 3 vaccinations would begin in ‘August’, which actually meant ‘the end of August’ and caused huge confusion.

“In the space of a week, the timeframe for vaccine authentication has already slipped. What’s the bet that in two weeks’ time ‘late November’ will become ‘December’?

“This issue matters hugely. Other countries are granting greater freedoms to vaccinated people. It should be part of our pathway out of the current situation in Auckland, but it’s impossible to grant freedoms for vaccinated people if they can’t prove they’re vaccinated.

“Auckland is now in its ninth week of lockdown. Not having a vaccine certificate in place until late November will mean businesses will have to wait at least six weeks before even having the chance to welcome fully vaccinated customers.

“Once again, it’s a failure of the Government to plan. It has been obvious for months now that New Zealand would need a system of vaccine authentication, but it seems the Government is only just getting going on putting it together.

“This isn’t good enough and we deserve better.”

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