vaccinated at the "rally your village" drive-through event. on 11 october, the government announced that health and disability workers including general practitioners, nurses, and pharmacists will have to be fully vaccinated by 1 december 2021 while all teachers and early childhood workers will have to be fully vaccinated by 1 january 2022. those who refuse to vaccinate may lose their jobs. on 12 october, ardern and the health ministry announced that a televised "super saturday" "vaxathon" event would be held nationwide on 16 october to boost national vaccination rates. the vaxathon will be covered by several news media including newshub, māori television, and hahana's facebook page. former prime minister sir john key has expressed supported for the vaxathon, having first proposed the idea during a media interview with newstalk zb in august 2021. on 16 october ("super saturday"), the all-day nationwide vaccination telethon ("vaxathon") was held, featuring celebrity guests and health professionals in a coordinated cross-platform broadcast on tvnz 2, three, māori television, ch200, and various online channels. the event resulted in record-breaking vaccination numbers, with over 100,000 doses being given out by 3 pm, with a target set of 150,000 doses. super saturday broke vaccination records, with 39,025 first doses and 90,977 second doses administered on the day, meaning 2.5% of the entire population of the country received a vaccine on the day. it was the biggest single day numbers for māori, with 21,815 vaccinations given. over half of the doses given to the māori community were for first doses. the event was also widely successful for tongan new zealanders, as approximately 5% of the tongan population in new zealand received a vaccine on super saturday. on 23 october, the government amended the vaccine order to recognise several international vaccines in addition to the pfizer vaccine. this ruling allowed a group of grounded air new zealand pilots, who had gotten their vaccines overseas, to resume work. on 26 october, ardern and workplace relations minister michael wood announced a new vaccine mandate requiring all workers in hospitality businesses and certain services industries like gyms, barbers, and hairdressers to get vaccinated within four weeks or risk losing their jobs. this announcement was welcomed by hospitality new zealand chief executive julie white and restaurant association chief executive marisa bidois, who also expressed concern about vaccine hesitancy leading to staff resigning and labour shortages. retail nz chief executive greg harford welcomed the vaccine mandate but stated that employers needed legal protection to counter the risk of legal action by vaccine hesitant employees. by 31 october, 75% of the eligible population had been fully vaccinated. 6.8 million vaccine doses have been delivered including 3.1 million doses. 80% of aucklanders (roughly 1.1 million people) have also received both covid-19 does. november 2021 a covid-19 vaccination van in māngere bridge (counties manukau, auckland) in november 2021. on 3 november, covid-19 response minister chris hipkins confirmed that the government would create a "central process" for approving vaccine exemptions. hipkins' announcement came amidst concerns by education and health professionals about the distribution and sale of bogus vaccine certificates by vaccine hesitant medical practitioners. hipkins also clarified that selling or giving away vaccine certificates for free was illegal. by 4 november, 89% of eligible new zealanders had received their first dose while 77% of the eligible population had been fully vaccinated. by 7 november, the waitematā, auckland, counties manukau, capital and coast, canterbury and southern district health boards had reached the 90% thresholds for first doses of the pfizer covid-19 vaccine. on 13 november, the auckland district health board became the first district health board to surpass the 95% threshold for first doses of the pfizer covid-19 vaccine. on 16 november, hipkins launched the government's "my vaccine pass," which can be used as a vaccine certificate for various public events, hospitality, community, sport and faith-based gatherings. that same day, ardern confirmed that the auckland boundary would open to vaccinated or tested people from 15 december. on 24 november, the new zealand parliament passed the covid-19 response (vaccinations) legislation act 2021, which allows businesses to dismiss employees who refuse to be vaccinated against covid-19. on 26 november, the government extended the vaccine mandate to the new zealand police and new zealand defence force. personnel will be required to get vaccinated against covid-19 by 17 january 2022. in november 2021, the chinese advisory networking group held a vaccination event at christchurch's south city shopping centre, targeting the city's chinese communities. this vaccination effort featured a chinese-speaking nurse and succeeded in vaccinating 90 people. this vaccination event received funding from the ministry for ethnic communities' covid-19 vaccine uptake fund. by 26 december 2021, over 99% of the asian community in new zealand had been fully vaccinated. december 2021 on 1 december, hipkins announced that the government had plans to introduce the pfizer-biontech vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 years from late january 2022. the regulatory agency medsafe also confirmed that it was evaluating the safety of the vaccine for children within that age group. cabinet ministers will need to authorise the vaccine once it has been approved by medsafe. in early december, several local councils including the dunedin city council, timaru district council, auckland council, and wellington city council introduced policies requiring people to show vaccine passes in order to access council facilities including pools, libraries, venues, and offices. other local councils including the invercargill city council, the southland district council, gore district council, and the waitaki district councils have stated they would allow people to access their facilities without requiring vaccine passes. on 21 december 2021, hipkins announced that the interval between the second dose and the booster shot would be reduced from six months to four months; making 82% of vaccinated new zealanders eligible for a booster by late february 2022. in addition, hipkins announced that all eligible border and health workers would be required to receive a booster shot. hipkins also confirmed that paediatric doses of the pfizer vaccine would be rolled out to children between the ages of 5 and 11 years from 17 january 2022. january 2022 on 17 january 2022, those aged 5+ are eligible for the pfizer vaccine. they will receive a children's version of the pfizer vaccine, with a lower dose and smaller volume. as part of the launch, on 17 january, 120,000 pfizer doses were distributed at clinics. on 17 january, the ministry of health announced that 14,367 child (paediatric) vaccine first doses were administered to 5 to 11-year-olds throughout new zealand. february 2022 on 9 february, new zealand national party leader christopher luxon called on the government to issue a clear timeline for ending vaccine mandates. in response, prime minister ardern stated that vaccine certificates and mandates would only be maintained as long as there was a strong public health rationale. similar sentiments were echoed by covid-19 response minister hipkins, who stated the mandates remained under constant review. on 25 february, hipkins announced that unvaccinated children and teenagers would be allowed to participate in school sports and extracurricular activities under phase 3 of the country's omicron response plan. he also clarified that the vaccine pass and vaccine requirement would not be required for those participating in school organised activities. march 2022 on 1 march, hipkins confirmed that the cabinet had approved the novavax covid-19 vaccine for people aged 18 and above. the first doses are expected to arrive in the country later in the month. on 23 march, ardern announced that the government would end the vaccine mandates for education, police and defence force staff and businesses requiring vaccine passes from 11:59pm on 4 april 2022. in addition, my vaccine pass requirements would also be eliminated from 11:59pm on 4 april. these changes are part of a wider overhaul of the country's covid-19 protection framework's "red setting" requirements. by 29 march, 1,300 doses of the novavax vaccine had been distributed over the past two weeks. may 2022 on 24 may, the new zealand herald reported that the government had allocated a total of nz$473 million from the 2022 new zealand budget for purchasing and rolling out a possible fourth dose of the covid-19 vaccine. this figure included allocating nz$284.3 million for implementing the covid-19 immunisation strategy and allocating nz$189.2m for purchasing more covid-19 mrna vaccines in 2022 and 2023. june 2022 on 21 june, parliament amended the medicines act 1981 to allow people deemed to be at risk of contracting covid-19 to receive a second booster shot. the government also indicated that it would confirm the groups of people eligible for a fourth dose of the pfizer vaccine. on 28 june, covid-19 response minister dr. ayesha verrall announced that the vaccine mandate for corrections and border workers would be lifted on 2 july 2022. by that time, 100% of corrections personnel and 97% of active border workers had been fully vaccinated against covid-19. september 2022 on 12 september, ardern announced that vaccine and testing requirements for all travellers entering the country would end at 11:59 pm on 12 september. in addition, the vaccine mandate for all health and disability workers will end at 11:59 pm on 26 september. some employers may require employees to be vaccinated due to their health and safety legislative obligations. november 2022 on 7 november, radio new zealand reported that the new zealand population's immunity to covid-19 had waned due to long gaps between boosters and past infections and new overseas covid strains such as xbb and bq.1. in response, several public health experts including epidemiologist michael baker, immunologist anna brooks, and vaccinologist helen petousis-harris called for the reinstatement of mask mandates and government support for vaccine rollouts including the bivalent vaccine. on 8 november, covid-19 response minister verrall admitted that the government currently did not have plans to launch an annual covid-19 vaccine booster but was consulting with experts. december 2022 following provisional approval by medsafe, the director-general of health and government ministers authorised the use of the paediatric pfizer covid-19 vaccine on 16 december for children aged six months to four years at risk of severe disease if they contract covid-19. the health ministry expects the vaccine to be available from february 2023. on 21 december, medsafe provisionally approved the use of pfizer's two bivalent omicron ba.1, and ba.4/5 booster vaccines for people over the age of 12 years old who have received their first two covid-19 vaccination doses. february 2023 on 9 february, medsafe approved a version of pfizer's paedetric vaccine for children aged between 6 months and four years old. on 23 february, health minister ayesha verrall confirmed that a bivalent covid-19 vaccine would be made available to people over the age of 30 years from 1 april 2023. this bivalent vaccine includes protection against the omicron variant. april 2023 on 2 april, prime minister chris hipkins and health minister verrall took part in a flu and covid-19 vaccination event to urge eligible people to get their vaccine jabs in the lead-up to the winter flu season. public opinion official surveys beginning in september 2020, horizon research in association with the university of auckland's school of population health conducted a series of public opinion surveys on adult new zealanders' attitudes and sentiments towards covid-19 vaccination. the first two surveys conducted between september and december 2020 found that 69% of the population would take a "well-tested and approved" covid-19 vaccine while 24% were unlikely to take a vaccine and 16% were opposed to taking a vaccine. support for vaccination was strongest in respondents aged 65 years and above while vaccine hesitancy was strongest among the māori and pacific islander communities, parents with children in the household, and those of lower household incomes and education qualifications. in february 2021, a third public opinion survey found that 71.4% of the 1,317 respondents were willing to take a covid-19 vaccine while 7.2% were unsure and 21.4% were unlikely to have a covid-19 vaccine if offered to them. major concerns identified in the survey including concerns about the long-term effects of vaccination and insufficient information. those in the 65 years+ and 18–24 years age brackets were most receptive to taking a covid-19 vaccine. in march 2021, a fourth public opinion survey found that 69% of respondents were willing to take a covid-19 vaccine while 15% (an estimated 612,200 adults) would take the vaccine immediately if it