7. Question No. 7—COVID-19 ResponseCHRIS BISHOP (National) to the Minister for COVID-19 ResponseQuestion No. 7—COVID-19 Response7. CHRIS BISHOP (National) to the Minister for COVID-19 Response: Why were unvaccinated workers at the Port of Tauranga allowed to have contact with the Rio de la Plata container ship before crew members on the ship had COVID-19 test results returned and what steps if any is he taking to increase vaccination rates for port workers?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister for COVID-19 Response): Crew members on incoming ships are not routinely tested. The consistent advice I've received is that testing all incoming ships would be logistically challenging and could result in some ships no longer calling in New Zealand and it could also increase the risk as all crew would have to disembark the ship for testing instead of remaining isolated on the ship as they're currently required to do under the maritime border order. We treat all incoming ships as if they could have COVID-19 cases on board and rigorous infection and prevention control requirements are in place. The latest advice I have is that 57 percent of port workers who interact with foreign vessels are fully vaccinated and an additional 7 percent have had one dose. That rate is not good enough. I've had feedback that port workers have been more susceptible to misinformation and we are receiving reports that they have been more reluctant to take up the opportunity to receive a vaccination when that has been offered. The current focus is providing one-to-one guidance to those workers at the ports who have been the subject of misinformation so that they can make an informed decision. I am not satisfied with the rate of vaccination of port workers which is why we have now mandated that all of those port workers in at-risk roles will need to be vaccinated as an additional layer of protection. Many of those are already required to be vaccinated under the existing order—many of the Government employees. The remaining Government employees not covered by the current order will be covered from 26 August by which point they must have had their first dose and they have to have had their second dose within 35 days of that time. All other at-risk port employees have to have had their first dose by 30 September and their second dose within 35 days of that or they will not be able to perform those roles.Chris Bishop: Why did Maritime New Zealand and the local medical officer of health in Tauranga clear the Rio de la Plata to berth at the port with a local pilot boarding the ship on Wednesday 4 August when the day before the Port of Tauranga received an alert from Maritime New Zealand advising that the ship had been boarded two weeks prior by an Australian pilot who subsequently tested positive for the Delta strain of COVID-19?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: There is some conflicting information about that at the moment. My understanding is that that decision was based on timing and an assumption that it could have been the port worker in Queensland who could have potentially infected the crew and the timing indicated that that would have been unlikely at that point. So I still have some questions about exactly who knew what and when and why decisions were made when they were. We are getting more information on that. I'm not satisfied yet with all of the answers that we've received so far.Chris Bishop: Has he been advised that Group 1A port workers in some DHBs have only been able to get COVID-19 vaccinations recently and not earlier in the roll-out and if so why did the Government allow that to be the case?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: No I have not been advised of that. In fact I can say that port workers have had access to the COVID-19 vaccinations longer than just about every other New Zealander that we have had vaccination sites operating at the ports that those vaccination sites have been deliberately set up to operate at times where there have been shift changes to ensure that people who are working night shifts for example are not disadvantaged by that and any of those workers can also get an appointment and get a vaccination in one of the offsite vaccination clinics. Every place that has a port also has vaccinations available in their community.Chris Bishop: Is it correct that if the public health order mandating vaccination of port workers had been in place earlier less than 36 percent of port workers would not have had a vaccination?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: To be frank one of the things that I have been concerned about from the beginning is the level of misinformation at the ports and the potential for a vaccine requirement to stoke that concern and the conspiracy theories around that. And also I've been concerned about the potential economic impacts of introducing this requirement too soon because the last thing I think any New Zealander wants to see is some of our ports unable to operate because there's insufficient numbers of vaccinated workers. To put that into context some of our ports employ very few people in some of those specialist roles. It would only take one or two of those specialist people like ship pilots to say that they're not willing to be vaccinated and that port would have to close.Chris Bishop: Just in relation to that last answer is the Minister for COVID-19 Response now saying that he and the Government are taking into account the economic impacts of the decisions they make in relation to the border?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: We always have and in fact we're legally obliged to do so.