3. Question No. 3—COVID-19 ResponseDr TRACEY McLELLAN (Labour—Banks Peninsula) to the Minister for COVID-19 ResponseQuestion No. 3—COVID-19 Response3. Dr TRACEY McLELLAN (Labour—Banks Peninsula) to the Minister for COVID-19 Response: What recent announcements has he made regarding mandatory vaccination of workforces?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister for COVID-19 Response): Last week I announced that the education and the health and disability workforces will be required to be vaccinated to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. This follows on from the Government's earlier decisions for workers in our managed isolation and quarantine facilities our airports and our ports to be vaccinated. Our education and health and disability workforces have done an incredible job through a very difficult time—a global pandemic—keeping themselves and other people safe. While most of the people working in those sectors are already fully or partially vaccinated we can't leave anything to chance and that's why we've made the very difficult decision to make vaccinations for people undertaking those roles mandatory. Vaccination remains our strongest and our most effective tool to prevent against infection and disease and we need as many workers as possible to be vaccinated to allow sectors like these to respond to the pandemic whilst continuing to deliver everyday services with as little disruption as possible.Dr Tracey McLellan: What will the changes mean for the health and disability sector?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The COVID-19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Order 2021 is currently being updated and it will require anyone conducting high-risk work in the health and disability sector to be fully vaccinated by 1 December 2021. Under these new requirements GPs pharmacists community health nurses midwives paramedics and all healthcare workers in sites where vulnerable patients are treated including intensive care units must receive their first dose of the vaccine by 30 October. These requirements also include certain non-regulated healthcare work such as aged residential care home and community support services kaupapa Māori health providers and non-Government organisations who provide health services.Dr Tracey McLellan: What will the changes mean for the education sector?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: From 1 January 2022 schools and early learning services and providers will need to maintain a register and ensure that only vaccinated staff and support people such as volunteers have contact with children and students. They will need to have their first dose by 15 November. This includes home-based educators and all those support people in our schools and early learning services such as teacher aides administration and maintenance staff and contractors. Secondary schools and kura will also be required to keep a COVID-19 vaccination register for students. Students that don't produce evidence of vaccination will be considered to be unvaccinated. All school employees in Auckland and other alert level 3 regions will be required to return a negative COVID-19 test before they can return to work on the school site. Those who are not fully vaccinated in the period leading up to 1 January will also be required to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. Work is continuing at this point on whether further vaccination requirements will be made for the tertiary education sector