Digital vaccine certificates ‘stress tested’

eHealthNews.nz: Covid-19

Tuesday, 2 November 2021

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NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

My COVID Record Digital vaccine certificates are being trialed with a group of people within the next couple of days and the system will be “good to go” when the new traffic light framework kicks in, says Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins.

When all three Auckland DHBs reach 90 per cent vaccination for their eligible population the city will move into ‘red’ on the framework, which involves the use of vaccine certificates.

A vaccine mandate covers a range of employees including health staff and teachers and vaccine certificates will also be mandatory for entry to large-scale events as well as to ‘high risk’ businesses such as hospitality and hairdressers.

These will be made available in the form of a QR code via the My Covid Record website that people can either keep digitally on their device or choose to print off.

Chris Hipkins said the pubic roll-out of the certificates is a matter of weeks away and the system is being “stress-tested” with some people in the next few days.

“I can say with reasonable confidence that we will have the system ready to go,” he told reporters.

In order to access their vaccination record information, people will need a My Health Account or a Real Me account.

Hipkins said people need to be ready to download their certificate when the systems is “turned on” by creating an account now. This means the system won’t be overloaded when the certificate system goes live.

“It will make that process quick and simple,” Hipkins said.

The Ministry is also working on a ‘verifier app’ that event organisers and others will use to scan and verify that a vaccine certificate is valid.

Ministry of Health group manager national digital services Michael Dreyer confirmed that vaccine certificates are expected to be available in mid-late November.