Red light, green light!
Important changes
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today that New Zealand will move into the new traffic light system framework from 11:59pm Thursday 2nd December 2021. As such, we will be adopting the framework's requirements for hair salons effective Friday 3rd December 2021. We are using the Government's Covid-19 website as our source of information and recommend you familiarise yourself with this too. We know this is a chunky post but these are important changes which require action on your part, so please take some time to read and understand the following.
‘My Vaccine Pass’ is compulsory for entry
As a reminder, the Government has announced the next stage of the Covid-19 response plan which is a framework that introduces a traffic light system with levels Green, Orange, and Red. This framework rules that all close-proximity businesses such as hair salons can only operate throughout the framework's levels and duration if they enforce vaccination passes for all of their clients. This means that from Friday 3rd December 2021 onwards, we will require all clients entering the salon to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and to provide evidence of this upon arrival by displaying your ‘My Vaccine Pass’—Aotearoa’s official record of your Covid-19 vaccination status.
Important note: The ‘My Vaccine Pass’ is not the same thing as the purple handwritten card you got with your jabs.
Your pass can either be digital or hard copy but must have the scannable QR code and look like one of the examples below:
Details on how we verify our clients’ ‘My Vaccine Pass’ are still being worked through, however, we understand that as we're a close-proximity business we’ll be required to scan each clients pass using the NZ Pass Verifier app. We're told that this app merely gives us an indication that a client is fully vaccinated and may enter and does not store any information.
How to get your ‘My Vaccine Pass’
You can get your ‘My Vaccine Pass’ by first signing up to ‘My Covid Record’. The link will take you to the official website which has a breakdown of steps to follow. The process takes roughly 5 minutes and all you need is your phone, ID and an email address. By the end of it you'll have signed up to ‘My Covid Record’ and have your ‘My Vaccine Pass’ emailed to your email address with instructions to print it or save it to your phone.
For people without a smartphone or access to a computer, there is a helpline you can call – 0800 222 478 to request a 'My Vaccine Pass'. There, they will request your NHI number or ask a few security questions to confirm your identity.
Vaccination exemptions
As we are required to scan each client's 'My Vaccine Pass' that enters the salon, we were glad to read on the Covid-19 website that you can still get a 'My Vaccine Pass' if you have a vaccination exemption. To summarise the article, if you have a vaccination exemption you will need to speak with your doctor and they will apply for your 'My Vaccine Pass' on your behalf.
The Ministry of Health website also provides the same guidance on what the vaccination exemption process is to get a 'My Vaccine Pass'. This article says much the same as the one above and also states, "When your pass is scanned at venues your exemption status will not be disclosed to the business. You will be able to gain access like everyone else."
Ultimately, this is great news for us as it makes managing entry into the salon much easier with every client (vaccinated or with an exemption) needing a 'My Vaccine Pass' to scan in.
Our focus
We're eager to get back to providing the comfortable salon experience we all know and love. Operating with the vaccination requirements throughout the traffic light system's levels means we're one step closer to that. Regardless of anyone's personal beliefs, our business can only viably operate in the traffic light framework with vaccination certificate requirements.
In summary
From Friday 3rd December all of our clients coming into the salon will need to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and display their ‘My Vaccine Pass’ upon arrival. You must present your scannable ‘My Vaccine Pass’ as per the examples pictured above, we cannot stress this enough. If your ‘My Vaccine Pass’ indicates that you're not fully vaccinated or if you cannot display it, we'll unfortunately be unable to fulfill your appointment. In the interest of setting boundaries, any disruptive behaviour towards our staff or clients will not be tolerated—though we know it won't come to this as we're sure you can understand the position we're in given we don't make the rules. We know some of our client's choices may not align with this new framework so if you have an upcoming appointment that you would like to cancel, we ask that you please do so ASAP either through your appointment confirmation email or by letting us know via phone or email.
We find out the details of the framework at the same time as everyone else so please bear with us as we navigate and implement the new procedures. Our aim is to make the process as easy as possible. We appreciate your support as we move through these next steps.