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Review of Border Worker Testing and Vaccination (Maritime and Aviation)

BEB documents

Provide assurance that border workers who were required to be vaccinated and tested were compliant.

Download the Border Worker Testing and Vaccination Maritime and Aviation – Phase Two Review  

  • Mandatory testing and vaccination of border workers are key measures to prevent and minimise the spread of COVID-19.
  • In April 2021, the Border Executive Board commissioned an independent review of border worker testing. The focus was on whether those at the border who are required to be tested, are being tested.
  • The review was designed in two parts: phase one considered Managed Isolation and Quarantine Facilities; and phase two looked at both testing and vaccination at the aviation and maritime borders.

Phase Two: the aviation and maritime sector

  • The terms of reference for Phase Two were extended to include vaccination as well as testing. The review commenced in August 2021 in the lead up to the mandatory vaccination requirement for the remainder of the border sector. The reviewer provided the vaccination programme with real time feedback to enable early improvements to be made.
  • All the recommendations have been addressed. For example:
    • Experienced gained during the border worker vaccination programme has been shared with the other sectors with mandatory vaccination requirements, such as the education sector, health and disability sector, and the Department of Corrections.
    • The Border Workforce Testing Register is continually improved in response to suggestions or changing requirements (such as the requirement that border workers over the age of 18 are boosted if they received their second dose more than six months earlier).
    • The border sector has an excellent understanding and compliance with the vaccinations requirements.
  • The Border Executive Board would like to thank the review team along with the people who supported these reviews.
  • The Border Executive Board would also like to acknowledge and thank New Zealand’s front line border workers who have done so much to keep COVID-19 out of New Zealand. In addition to vaccination and testing requirements discussed in these reviews, for the past two years their work has been completed in masks.