One in three eligible MIQ workers have not yet had a booster dose, despite some being able to since the end of November and the evasive variant Omicron knocking on our doorstep.
An MIQ facility in Auckland. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
All eligible MIQ workers must have had a booster by the end of January, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins announced in December.
However, over 1000 have yet to.
The Ministry of Business, which runs MIQ, said as of 17 January, 63 percent of the 3472 active MIQ staff had received a booster. Those counted in the figures had received their second vaccination on or before 31 July last year.
That meant 1284 staff had not had a booster despite being eligible and working in the same facility as confirmed Omicron cases. Hundreds of cases of the more transmissible variant have been detected in MIQ facilities in the last few weeks.
An MIQ worker at the Stamford Plaza Hotel in Auckland tested positive on Friday, having caught the Omicron variant from two travellers within the hotel.
One of their household contacts has tested positive, and 75 other contacts have returned negative results.
Data from the UK government released on Friday showed a booster dose provided significantly more protection against an Omicron infection than two doses did. The research looked at 760,647 Omicron cases and 236,023 Delta cases.
Te Pūnaha Matatini Covid-19 modeller Dr Dion O'Neale said the data suggested people who had two doses had only about 10 percent protection against symptomatic infection of the Omicron variant six months after vaccination.
However, a booster lifted that protection up to around 70 percent.
Looking at symptomatic disease from Omicron, the report states: "Among those who had received 2 doses of Pfizer or Moderna, [vaccine] effectiveness dropped from around 65 to 70 percent down to around 10 percent by 20 weeks after the second dose. Two to four weeks after a booster dose vaccine effectiveness ranged from around 65 to 75 percent, dropping to 55 to 65 percent at five to nine weeks and 45 to 50 percent from 10+ weeks after the booster."
O'Neale said our MIQ workers were an important line of defence keeping Omicron out and should have a third dose as soon as possible.
"That's going to be really important in terms of trying to break a potential chain of transmission, trying to keep [Omicron] on the other side of the border, preventing them getting infected, and then potentially passing that infection on to other people in the community."
The government mandated eligible MIQ workers to have a booster by the end of January, which is 12 days away. An average of 33 new cases of Covid-19 are coming into MIQ facilities every day.
About 750,000 New Zealanders have had a booster and 82 percent of those vaccinated will be eligible by the end of February.