Vaccine passes needed for DCC facilities

The Dunedin City Council will be requiring people to present their My Vaccine Passes when entering public facilities.

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DCC chief executive Sandy Graham said the decisions made today were designed to keep people safe when Dunedin moves into an Orange setting under the Government’s new traffic light system.

Dunedin’s new measures will be rolled out in two stages, beginning at Moana Pool, the St Clair Hot Salt Water Pool, Toitū Otago Settlers Museum, the Dunedin Public Art Gallery and DCC-organised events, beginning on Friday.

All other public-facing facilities, such as Dunedin Public Libraries, Lan Yuan Dunedin Chinese Garden, Olveston, the i-SITE visitor information centre and Civic Centre, will follow on Monday.

This staggered approach was to ensure appropriate measures were in place at each facility.

“This means anyone wanting to enter any of our public-facing facilities will be required to produce a vaccine pass.

“We realise this will have an impact on some members of our community, but our priority is to keep our staff, customers and the wider community safe,” Ms Graham said.

The same mandate will apply to DCC staff, contractors, volunteers and elected members, who must also be fully vaccinated to enter once the new requirements are in place at each facility.

"The requirements are consistent with measures being introduced by other councils, including in Auckland and Wellington.

"Because the traffic light settings are new for everyone, we won’t have all the information people want to know straightaway. We are doing our best and will provide more details over the coming days.

"We are working on other contactless options to provide some services and will have more information on this soon too."