Changes to Traffic Light settings and vaccine requirements

The New Zealand Government has announced a raft of changes to the ‘Traffic Light’ settings and vaccine requirements. In short:

• From midnight this Friday 25 March 2022, traffic light settings will be simplified as follows:
  • Capacity limits will be removed for outdoor settings at Red, using MyVaccinePass.
  • Indoor capacity limits for events, bars and restaurants will double from 100 to 200 at Red.
  • Outdoor face mask requirements are removed at Red.
  • All restrictions other than mask-wearing requirements will be removed at Orange.

• New Zealand will remain in Red, until 4 April when the setting will be reviewed.
  
  
• The use of MyVaccinePass and the requirement to scan in using the COVID-19 Tracer will end at 11.59pm on 4 April.
  
  
• All Government-imposed vaccine mandates will be removed at 11.59pm on 4 April, except for the health and disability, aged care, corrections and border workforces.

Given the decision to remove the vaccination mandates from most mandated sectors and discontinue MyVaccinePass requirements from 4 April, we strongly recommend businesses review the vaccination policies they have in place. This includes where (i) policies mandate vaccinations for specific roles/positions or (ii) policies simply provide for restricted access.

MBIE may provide further advice to the private sector in due course, but historically they have been fairly delayed in reacting to change. Reach out to our Employment team (Laura Scampion, Carl Blake, Julia MacGibbon and Jordan Jeffcoat) to review your organisation’s policies, mandates or general approach to COVID-19.