‘Slow progress’ in getting Covid jabs into police staff
Police are making ‘‘slow progress’’ in getting Covid-19 vaccinations, according to an internal email sent from the top cop’s chief adviser.
Frontline police were not prioritised in the Government’s initial roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine, with only officers working in managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities part of the first group to get vaccinated.
The rest of the police force was in group 4, along with the public.
The decision led to concern from the Police Association, which said unvaccinated staff would be ‘‘nondeployable’’ during a Covid outbreak.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster’s chief adviser, Cassandra Anderson, sent an update on vaccination rates to senior staff, including assistant commissioners and district commanders, on Friday.
The email, seen by Stuff, said that as of Thursday, 83 per cent of the total workforce had received at least one dose of the vaccine and 70 per cent were fully vaccinated.
As of 11.59pm on Saturday, 86.4 per cent of eligible Kiwis had received their first dose and 70.5 per cent were fully vaccinated.
‘‘We are continuing to make slow progress and we continue to encourage everyone to be vaccinated,’’ the email said.
A police spokesperson said the force’s vaccination rate would be higher as some staff would have accessed the vaccine in the community and not through the police’s official provider.
‘‘Staff are not obliged to disclose this information. We continue to encourage staff to get vaccinated as we would like to see higher rates.’’
The email from Anderson encouraged commanders and commissioners to ‘‘check with your staff that they are informing us of their vaccination details as this will help to demonstrate a more accurate picture’’.
The Government announced last week that everyone involved in ‘‘high-risk’’ work in the health and disability sector must have their first dose by October 30 and be fully vaccinated by December 1 – or they will lose their job.
But this was extended on Saturday, following consultation with the sector, to November 15 for the first dose and the second by the end of January 1.
A Ministry of Health spokesperson said
‘‘We are continuing to make slow progress and we continue to encourage everyone to be vaccinated.’’
Cassandra Anderson Police Commissioner Andrew Coster’s chief adviser in an email to senior staff
some emergency services workers would fall under the healthcare worker mandate, which was still being drafted.
Details would be shared publicly once they were available and other mandatory vaccination orders were still under consideration, they said.
A police spokesperson previously said police were continuing to review their health and safety policies, procedures, and hygiene measures to ‘‘ensure our staff, as well as those they come into contact with as a result of their work, are kept as safe as possible’’.
The spokesperson would not comment on the possibility of mandatory vaccination.
Police Association president Chris Cahill previously said there did not seem to be significant resistance to the concept and he had received only a couple of queries about it. The association’s board supported the vaccine as the safest option for its members and would support mandatory vaccination if it was legal. Currently, there was no legal authority to enforce it, Cahill said. National Party MP and police spokesman Simeon Brown said police should have been vaccinated with all other frontline workers.
‘‘It is good to see the vaccinations levels among police increase but it is unacceptable the level of risk they have [been] exposed to by a Government that was simply far too slow at prioritising them and getting them vaccinated,’’ Brown said.
On Friday the Government unveiled its new Covid-19 framework, including a ‘‘traffic light’’ system and widespread vaccination certificate enforcement.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said different regions would switch to the new framework when 90 per cent of people were fully vaccinated.
For Auckland, that would mean all three of its district health boards would need to reach 90 per cent.
Ardern said the framework would help New Zealand stay safe from Covid-19 in the future.