Only nine of the 98 port workers tested for COVID-19, after potentially being exposed to 11 positive cases aboard a container ship off the coast of Tauranga, are fully vaccinated.
A further two have had their first dose.
Minister Responsible for COVID-19 Chris Hipkins provided these figures to media at a post-Cabinet press conference on Monday afternoon.
He said 23 of the port workers had returned negative test results. All 98 are self-isolating.
The workers had contact with the ship, Rio De La Plata, as they unloaded cargo at the Port of Tauranga between August 4 and 7.
This work was temporarily paused on August 4 over concerns someone who captained the ship in July tested positive to the Delta variant nine days after getting off the ship. Nonetheless, unloading continued the following day.
Hipkins noted the spread of misinformation about COVID-19 had been particularly prevalent in this community of port workers.
A whopping 60% of the 530 port workers in the Bay of Plenty hadn’t had a single vaccine dose, as at July 22.
Of the 2,848 port workers across the country, 40% hadn’t had a single dose, according to figures obtained by National’s COVID-19 spokesperson Chris Bishop.
Government and private sector border workers have until the end of September to get their first dose of the vaccine, before an order kicks in preventing them from working at the border unvaccinated.
Some border workers will need to be vaccinated by August 26.
Hipkins said he would consider bringing the September deadline forward.
He was worried that if these deadlines were too tight, movement in and out of the country's ports could be brought to a standstill.
“I want to keep the ports open,” he said, noting how difficult it would be to fill some specialised roles if they were made vacant.
He noted supply chains globally were already disrupted due to COVID-19. He didn't want further delays at New Zealand's ports to prompt shipping companies to drop New Zealand off their routes altogether.
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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said New Zealand receives around 2000 commercial ship visits a year.
Bishop said the low vaccination rate among border workers was “incredibly concerning”.
“Frontline workers were meant to have been vaccinated months ago. We have a glaring hole in our border,” he said.
Separately, the Government announced people over the age of 50 will now be eligible for a vaccine from Friday. Previously, they would’ve had to wait a few more days until mid-next week.
Hipkins said more than 2.2 million doses had been administered by the end of last week.
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