was available. the number of people unlikely to take a vaccine remained at 9.4% while 20% of respondents (an estimated 798,000) were unlikely to take a covid-19 vaccine if offered. the percentage of māori and pasifika who were unlikely to take a vaccine fell from a peak of 27% and 34% respectively in december 2020 to 18% and 9%. however, the percentage of those who will likely take a vaccine has not changed as significantly. in april 2021, a fifth public opinion survey found that 77% of respondents were willing to take a covid-19 vaccine. those unlikely to take a vaccine had dropped to 12% while those that would "definitely not" take a vaccine had dropped to 7.8%. the number of māori open to taking a vaccine had risen from 64% in march 2021 to 71% in april 2021. the number of pacific islanders open to taking a vaccine had risen from 59% to 79%. district health board regions where the likelihood of respondents to accept a vaccine is lower than the national average included waikato, lakes, tairawhiti, whanganui, hutt, wairarapa, west coast and south canterbury. in may 2021, a sixth public opinion survey found that 80% of respondents were willing to take a covid-19 vaccine. those unlikely to take a vaccine remained steady at 13% while those that would "definitely not" take a vaccine stayed at 7%. the number of māori open to taking a vaccine had risen to 75% while the number of pasifika willing to take a vaccine dropped slightly to 78%. the survey found that 77% of respondents believe that people in new zealand could choose whether or not to get vaccinated. in addition, 72% of respondents believed that people who were vaccinated could still get covid-19; an increase from 57% in april 2021. in june 2021, a seventh public opinion survey found that 72% of people who were not vaccinated were likely to get a vaccine, a decrease from 77% the previous month. 66% of māori respondents and 55% of pasifika respondents who were not vaccinated were likely to get a vaccine. overall, 81% of respondents felt that it was important that everyone in new zealand who was able to be vaccinated receive the vaccine. unofficial surveys on 20 may 2020, a stickybeak poll of 605 respondents conducted for the spinoff found that 65% of respondents would aim to get vaccinated if a covid-19 vaccine became available. by contrast, 20% said they were unsure while 16% said no. in february 2021, a follow-up the spinoff public opinion poll found that 53% of respondents would take a medically approved covid-19 vaccine, 25% were opposed to taking a covid-19 vaccine, and 22% were unsure. in march 2021, a public opinion survey of 1,040 participants conducted by the massey university communications lecturer jagadish thaker estimated that 36% of respondents were enthusiastic about taking covid-19 vaccines, 28% were supportive of covid-19 vaccines, 24% were hesitant about taking covid-19 vaccines and that 12% were skeptical of covid-19 vaccines. in mid november 2021, a 1 news–colmar brunton public opinion survey found that 74% of new zealanders supported the government's vaccine mandate for education, healthcare, port, border and prison workers. 20% opposed the vaccine mandate while 6% did not know. segments most supportive of the vaccine mandate policy include labour party supporters (86%), people with an annual household income over $150,000 (85%) and people aged 55 and older (81%). people living in waikato (at least 30%) were more likely to oppose the mandate. support several christian leaders and denominations including reverend fitifiti luatua of the christchurch samoan congregational christian church, the baptist churches of new zealand, the anglican church and the catholic church have supported covid-19 vaccination efforts. the anglican missions board organised a fundraiser campaign for vaccination campaigns in poorer countries, which had raised nz$80,000 by 11 september. the catholic church also launched a "love your neighbour as yourself" campaign to combat misinformation about covid-19 vaccines. following the death of a member of the māngere samoan assemblies of god on 6 october 2021, local denomination leaders including first lady rebekah toleafoa and church spokesperson jerome mika have called for members to vaccinate. by 7 november 2021, the entire 120-member congregation of sāmoan methodist māngere central church in auckland had been vaccinated due to an awareness campaign promoted by the church's reverend suiva'aia te'o with the help of the church's youth group leaders. on 13 december new zealand rugby, the national governing body for rugby union, announced that all players wishing to compete in teenage and community rugby in 2022 would have to be fully vaccinated. this ruling was endorsed by all 26 provincial rugby unions in the country. opposition several christian fundamentalist leaders including pastors murray and nancy watkinson of celebration centre in christchurch, brian and hannah tamaki of destiny church, city impact church leader peter mortlock and conspiracy theorist billy te kahika have criticised covid-19 vaccination efforts, variably describing the vaccine as the mark of the beast, governmental overreach, and questioning its effectiveness. despite the tamakis' vocal opposition to vaccine mandates and lockdown policies, destiny church leased its carpark in wiri, auckland for the whānau ora community clinic's testing operations. the clinic, which has conducted tens of thousands of covid-19 vaccinations at its takanini mass vaccination centre, is owned by two prominent destiny church members raewyn bhana and george ngatai. issues and controversies adverse events further information: vaccine adverse event on 8 may 2021, the health ministry confirmed that two people who had received the pfizer/biontech vaccine had died. these individuals are believed to be in their 80s. no direct link has been established between the vaccine and their deaths. the centre for adverse reactions monitoring and the national medicines regulator medsafe are monitoring the investigation into their deaths. on 25 august 2021, the health ministry acknowledged that five individuals at the highbrook vaccination in auckland had received a saline solution instead of the pfizer dose. in response, vaccinologist helen petousis-harris, a member of the government's covid-19 immunisation implementation advisory group, attributed the incident to errors made during the process of preparing the pfizer vaccine for use. national party covid-19 spokesperson chris bishop and act party leader david seymour demanded government transparency over the saline error issue. on 28 august, the health ministry acknowledged that it was contacting 13 people in the canterbury region who had received a lower dose of the pfizer vaccine earlier in the month. on 30 august, the covid-19 vaccine independent safety monitoring board and health ministry confirmed that a woman had died from myocarditis, a rare side effect of the pfizer covid-19 vaccine; marking the first recorded death in the country linked to the vaccine. the case has been referred to the coroner to determine the cause of death. on 18 december, 1 news and the otago daily times reported that a 26-year old dunedin man named rory nairn had died of vaccine-related myocarditis in november 2021 after receiving his first dose of the pfizer covid-19 vaccine. in late august and september 2022, a coroner's inquest into nairn's death was heard at the dunedin district court. the inquest heard evidence from nairn's pharmacist, vaccinator, the health ministry, health new zealand, and medsafe. despite a health ministry advisory in late august 2021 warning pharmacists and clinicians about the risk of myocarditis, nairn's pharmacy, its owner, and vaccinator had failed to warn nairn about the risk due to conflicting information from health authorities including the health ministry and immunisation advisory centre. pathologist dr noelyn hung also testified that test results of nairn's heart excluded drugs, a virus, bacteria or a rare fungal infection as causes of the myocarditis. on 14 december 2022, the covid-19 vaccine independent safety monitoring board informed health new zealand (te whatu ora) that a fourth death was possibly linked to the pfizer covid-19 vaccine (comirnaty). disinformation and misinformation the government's covid-19 vaccine rollout effort has encountered disinformation and misinformation by various groups and media including claire deeks' "voices for freedom," the former advance new zealand party, and the alternative media company full courts press's real news magazine. in march 2021, voices for freedom teamed up with advance nz to distribute copies of the real news in letter boxes; raising nz$10,000 to print and distribute copies of the magazine by may 2021. in addition, voices for freedom circulated 2 million flyers spreading disinformation about the pfizer–biontech vaccine. in mid-june 2021, secretary for education iona holsted warned that schools were being targeted by anti-vaxxers. the ministry of education also expressed concern that school leaders were not addressing misinformation in school bulletins and that some principals were promoting vaccine hesitancy. in response, the ministry urged educators to use "appropriate sources" for verified information. in august 2021, north & south magazine contributor emanuel stoakes reported that some local chinese language media particularly the chinese herald and the website skykiwi were promoting disinformation about the effectiveness of western covid-19 vaccines in favour of chinese vaccines. east auckland doctor david wu identified the chinese social media platform wechat as key source of vaccine misinformation and pro-beijing propaganda within the new zealand chinese community political scientist anne-marie brady urged the new zealand government to monitor chinese language channels and provide chinese-speaking new zealanders with chinese-language covid-19 information to combat disinformation. by october 2021, several anti-vaccination activists including billy te kahika's use of emotive language likening the government's vaccine mandate and lockdown policies to the holocaust were criticised as insensitive and hurtful to the jewish community by several jewish leaders including holocaust centre of nz chair deborah hart, nz jewish council spokesperson juliet moses, and zionist federation of new zealand leader rob berg. in early november 2021, the university of auckland's te pūnaha matatini's disinformation project released a working paper examining covid-19 misinformation and disinformation since the delta outbreak began on 17 august 2021. the paper found that far right online communities in new zealand and abroad were using various social media platforms including telegram to spread disinformation about covid-19 vaccines and lockdown policies through the use of memes, emotional testimonies, and māori motifs and symbols. the paper also argued that anti-vaccine elements were reappropriating māori motifs and symbols such as the hikoi and united tribes of new zealand flag to promote vaccine hesitancy among the māori population and to exploit racial tensions. the paper argued that far right elements were using covid-19 vaccination as a trojan horse for promoting far right ideologies in new zealand on various issues including gun control, anti-māori sentiment, homophobia, transphobia, conservative family values, misogyny, and immigration. in mid-december 2021, the medical council of new zealand confirmed that it was investigating three doctors dr. peter canaday, dr. emanuel garcia, and dr. matthew shelton for spreading anti-vaccination messages. the three doctors have also been suspended, which they have appealed to the district court which is due to hear their cases next year. canaday had spread misinformation about the pfizer vaccine on online videos while shelton had spread misinformation about the pfizer vaccine's effects on broadcaster peter williams' media works show magic talk. in early april 2022, canaday and dr shelton successfully appealed the medical council's decision to suspend their licenses for expressing anti-vaccine statements. judge stephen harrop ruled that the council had been wrong to suspend the pair before completing their investigations and stated that the council should have allowed them to sign voluntary undertakings restricting their public statements. fraud on 11 december 2021, the ministry of health confirmed it was investigating a man who had been paid to be vaccinated against covid-19 ten times in one day on behalf of other people. vaccinologist and associate professor helen petousis-harris described the man's behaviour as "unbelievably selfish" and cited it as an example of others taking advantage of someone who was short of money. opposition to vaccine mandates on 18 may 2021, health minister andrew little announced that the government would amend section 23 of the medicines act 1981 after high court judge rebecca ellis ruled in favour of the ngai kaitiaki tuku ihu medical action society's contention that the government's decision to approve the pfizer–biontech covid-19 vaccine exceeded the powers of the legislation. the medical action society had argued that this action would have undermined public trust in the vaccine and wasted vaccine stock already in use in the country. in early september 2021, 12