'Being vaccinated key to live a normal life' - Robertson says more detail on vaccine certificates coming

Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson says mandating vaccinations is doubtful, but vaccine certificates are likely to be introduced in the near future.

Certificates would permit people to attend events, venues, and other activities to show they are vaccinated.

Robertson told Morning Report the government would be saying more today on how the certificates would work down the track.

"The use of vaccine certificates is going to be an important part of how we move forward from here, but mandating vaccinations is not something New Zealand has done, and I think it's a step that many news owners would find very difficult.

"But there will be situations where being vaccinated is the key to you being able to live a relatively normal life."

Vaccination was the key after it was revealed that only 3 percent of the people in this outbreak had been double vaccinated, Robertson said.

"We are moving into a position where vaccination is at the core of the next stage of the strategy.

"In terms of vaccination, we've been very clear that 90 percent plus is what we need."

Robertson did not have a date for when Māori and Pasifika would reach a 90 percent rate of vaccination.

Mandatory vaccinations

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff told Morning Report his opinion was hardening on the introduction of mandatory vaccinations.

"You really do need to get vaxxed, but in the end it it's your individual decision.

"But there has to be a price for saying 'I'm not going to be vaxxed', and therefore 'I'm going to be a threat of conveying this virus across my community'.

"We're not going to say 'no' to Brian Tamaki if he turns up at ICU and he's desperately ill and needs ventilation. You've got rights in our community, but you've also got responsibilities."

Being vaccinated would have incentives like being able to go to a rugby match or concert, he said.

Goff said the vaccination rate for Auckland was good but with every 1 percent more it "gets harder because you're getting into the territory of people being hesitant ... where people are blatantly anti-vax".

Auckland roadmap

Robertson said the roadmap to open Auckland would have been welcomed by the city's residents.

The changes are the first in a three-step plan to allow, over time, outdoor socialising as well as stores, pre-schools and schools to reopen.

Goff said did not expect yesterday's easing of restrictions with Covid-19 still in the community.

"The government's trying to see the human side ... while trying to keep people as safe."

Goff said the government had found a balance.

"If we don't keep restrictions in place, then it'll spread right across our communities like it has in Sydney and Melbourne and we don't want to see our hospitals overwhelmed, we don't want to see people dying and we don't want to see thousands of people ill."

'New kinds of restrictions'

Covid-19 modeller Shaun Hendy believed it was increasingly unlikely New Zealand would stamp out the Covid-19 Delta variant.

"Easing these restrictions will make it more challenging." But he also said gatherings "completely outdoors are lower risk".

The rate of hospitalisations in this outbreak had been high, he said. There are 25 people in hospital.

Hendy told Morning Report if several hundred cases were reported a day, it would put a severe strain on the hospital system.

There was little chance of returning to alert level 1 life for quite some time, he said.

As the vaccination rates increased the old alert level system would need to be put aside and "we'll have to deal with new kinds of restrictions and those things might include vaccine mandates in certain occupations".

Restrictions would have to be placed every now and then to control outbreaks if the 10 to 20 percent of the population remained unvaccinated, he said.

"We estimate the vaccination protection that we've already got at this stage is cutting transmissions by about 50 percent. That is significant and it has definitely helped keep this outbreak contained and under control.

"The vaccines have been designed to keep you out of hospital basically, and they're very, very good at doing that."

The vaccine could not stop someone from getting Covid-19 but infected people would be less likely to pass it on due to a lower viral load, he said.