Rhythm and Alps festival-goers must be vaccinated

The Rhythm and Alps site in Cardrona Valley, near Wanaka. Photo: Otago Daily Times

The South Island's biggest New Year's music festival is insisting people be fully vaccinated to attend.

In a post on Facebook, organisers of the Rhythm and Alps music festival, near Wanaka, said the New Zealand Government has stated the use of vaccine passports will be mandated at large events and will most likely start from November.

"This is a positive development towards ensuring that R&A will go ahead - if you wish to attend you will need to be vaccinated," it said.

Organisers are urging festival-goers to get vaccinated now, not in December.

"If you no longer wish to attend the festival under these terms, you are able to resell your ticket on our official resale platform."

The mandate has ruffled some feathers, with a number of people sharing their outrage.

"This is disgusting and a slippery slope to communism. god help us," one comment said.

"This is absolutely disgusting we the people shld (sic) all stand together vaccinated or unvaccinated and not even bother going to these events if they dont make $ rules might change," said another.

"Absolutely Criminal (sic) to coerce innocent Youths into getting an experimental injection," a third wrote.

Every year, the Rhythm and Alps festival sells out, with about 24,000 people expected to attend.

Meanwhile, a campaign that aims to make Canterbury the most vaccinated region in the country is ramping up.

Fush, which is based in Wigram, will be offering free food to anyone who gets vaccinated at the Ngā Hau e Whā National Marae clinic at 250 Pages Rd, Wainoni, on Saturday.

The centre is open from 9.30am-4.30pm.

Anton Matthews of Fush and his team will be onsite from 10am-3pm.

See which areas currently have the most vaccinated people:

Rank	Change	City or district	Fully vaccinated	One dose only	Unvaccinated
1	▲ 3	Dunedin	59.6%	27.4%	13.0%
2	▲ 1	Marlborough	59.4%	23.9%	16.7%
3	▲ 2	Nelson	58.7%	21.2%	20.1%
4	▼ 2	Central Otago	58.6%	24.9%	16.5%
5	▼ 4	Kaikōura	57.8%	16.2%	26.0%
6	-	Tasman	56.6%	20.4%	23.0%
7	▲ 2	Kāpiti Coast	55.1%	26.5%	18.4%
8	▲ 3	Timaru	54.5%	25.0%	20.5%
10=	▼ 3	Carterton	54.3%	23.6%	22.1%
10=	▼ 1	Thames-Coromandel	54.3%	22.2%	23.5%
11	▼ 1	Auckland	53.9%	30.6%	15.5%
12	-	Masterton	53.0%	21.7%	25.3%
13	▲ 2	Queenstown-Lakes	52.8%	37.8%	9.4%
15=	▲ 5	Hamilton	52.6%	27.1%	20.3%
15=	-	Waitaki	52.6%	24.1%	23.3%
16	-	South Wairarapa	52.3%	28.8%	18.9%
18=	▲ 1	Invercargill	52.1%	23.8%	24.1%
18=	▼ 5	Wairoa	52.1%	14.6%	33.3%
19	▼ 1	Whanganui	51.5%	19.8%	28.7%
20	▼ 3	Buller	51.3%	19.3%	29.4%
21	-	Gore	50.7%	22.2%	27.1%
22	▲ 1	Napier	50.0%	26.5%	23.5%
23	▲ 2	Hastings	49.6%	26.3%	24.1%
24	-	Palmerston North	49.5%	30.3%	20.2%
25	▼ 3	Stratford	49.1%	18.8%	32.1%
26	▲ 4	Waipā	48.4%	29.9%	21.7%
27	▲ 1	Central Hawke's Bay	48.3%	27.9%	23.8%
28	▲ 4	Whangārei	47.9%	24.0%	28.1%
29	▲ 1	Manawatū	47.6%	30.1%	22.3%
31=	▼ 3	Upper Hutt	47.5%	34.2%	18.3%
31=	▲ 8	Waikato	47.5%	28.2%	24.3%
34=	▲ 7	Wellington	47.2%	42.4%	10.4%
34=	▼ 3	Waimate	47.2%	27.6%	25.2%
34=	-	Horowhenua	47.2%	25.8%	27.0%
35	▲ 1	Lower Hutt	47.0%	33.9%	19.1%
36	▲ 4	Porirua	46.9%	32.2%	20.9%
37	▼ 11	Grey	46.5%	25.2%	28.3%
38	▼ 1	Clutha	46.2%	26.4%	27.4%
39	-	Rotorua	46.1%	24.1%	29.8%
41=	▼ 5	Tararua	46.0%	24.0%	30.0%
41=	▲ 5	Gisborne	46.0%	21.8%	32.2%
43=	▲ 1	Selwyn	45.7%	41.2%	13.1%
43=	▼ 9	Westland	45.7%	26.0%	28.3%
44	▲ 1	Christchurch	45.4%	35.5%	19.1%
45	▼ 1	Taupō	45.1%	26.8%	28.1%
47=	▲ 3	Western Bay of Plenty	44.6%	30.9%	24.5%
47=	▼ 5	Rangitikei	44.6%	28.1%	27.3%
48	▼ 1	Waimakariri	44.5%	31.8%	23.7%
50=	▼ 2	Tauranga	44.4%	32.8%	22.8%
50=	▼ 1	Matamata-Piako	44.4%	30.0%	25.6%
51	-	Waitomo	44.0%	20.8%	35.2%
52	-	Southland	42.7%	29.0%	28.3%
54=	▼ 1	Hurunui	42.0%	33.3%	24.7%
54=	▲ 2	Ōpōtiki	42.0%	20.9%	37.1%
55	-	Hauraki	41.7%	27.9%	30.4%
56	▼ 2	Whakatāne	41.6%	22.2%	36.2%
57	-	Far North	41.2%	22.1%	36.7%
58	-	South Taranaki	40.6%	27.0%	32.4%
59	▲ 1	Kaipara	40.5%	25.1%	34.4%
60	▲ 1	Mackenzie	40.0%	35.4%	24.6%
61	▲ 1	New Plymouth	39.5%	33.2%	27.3%
62	▼ 3	Ruapehu	38.8%	24.0%	37.2%
63	-	South Waikato	37.7%	25.9%	36.4%
64	-	Ashburton	37.6%	39.4%	23.0%
65	-	Kawerau	35.8%	21.5%	42.7%
66	-	Ōtorohanga	35.3%	30.3%	34.4%

Showing 1 to 66 of 66 entries

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As at 11:59pm, October 5 2021. Change is since October 3.
Source: Ministry of Health.
The Ministry of Health caveats that "whilst all care is taken to maintain accuracy, there may be some minor errors that should not impact on overall percentages".

NZ Herald