Covid 19 Delta outbreak: 70,000 vaccine pass temporary exemptions include Napier girl whose first jab wasn't recorded

A 12-year-old Napier girl has been told she can not access her vaccine pass before tomorrow's move into the traffic light system because there is no record of her receiving the two doses.

Earlier this week, mother Alice Miller called her local pharmacy to get the crucial vaccine pass for her daughter Annabell-Rose.

However, Miller was told was there was no record of her daughter being fully vaccinated since October.

After reaching out for answers, she received an email from the Ministry of Health saying it could take up to four weeks for the problem to be resolved.

Annabell-Rose is believed to be one of 70,000 people who haven't been able to get their vaccine passess and will now be issued an exemption.

The Ministry of Health said the temporary exemption was 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. It is valid until 11.59pm on 14 December 2021," the ministry said in a statement

More than 95 per cent of people who have requested their My Vaccine Pass have received it.

However, around 70,000 have requested assistance.

This includes people who need to add international vaccinations to their New Zealand record and people who need their name changed. It also includes people whose records have other errors that need to be corrected, like Williams.

In September the Napier family visited their local drive-through centre to receive their first dose of Pfizer.

However, after getting jabbed Miller noticed her daughter was not given a Covid-19 vaccine record card.

"I let them know at the second station where they watch you, they apparently fixed it, which is what I thought," she said.

Annabell-Rose was then given a card but it wasn't until later when her mum noticed the card was missing the batch number and time the dose was given.

When Annabell-Rose went to get her second dose the following month, she was asked if it was her first dose.

When it came to getting her second vaccine they were like 'is this your first one and I said 'no this is her second'," Miller said.

She was "shocked" to learn there was no record that her daughter received her first dose in September.

"I was very horrified and shocked because it's kind of a big deal, this shouldn't be happening to anybody."

Group manager national digital services Michael Dreyer said it was "important these individuals are not unfairly disadvantaged".

"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," he said.

Dreyer said people who can not access the My Vaccine Pass tonight should receive an exemption email tonight.