Auckland's COVID-19 vaccination programme has been forced to pause walk-ins at two of its centres, less than a week after a report about vulnerable New Zealanders giving up waiting due to long queues and disorganisation.
Newshub reported on Friday people were queuing for hours outside the Mt Wellington vaccination site, leaving people frustrated and angry.
The Northern Region Health Coordination Centre says the Mt Wellington and Highbrook sites had both seen high demand for walk-in jabs.
"However, with both sites reaching capacity and increasing concerns about traffic flow and lengthy queues, the Northern Region Health Coordination Centre, which is managing the vaccination rollout on behalf of the northern region DHBs, has decided to halt the trial," the health board said in a statement.
Matt Hannant, the director of Auckland's COVID-19 vaccine programme, said the DHB wants people to have the best experience possible.
"We're going to take a moment to reflect on the last week and assess what changes may need to be made before allowing walk-ins back at those sites.
"We acknowledge that there have been some issues around queues and traffic congestion at these sites and we do apologise to anyone who has had issues being vaccinated over the last week."
Hannant said it was taking learnings from the operations on a daily basis.
"We want this to be an easy process for people and our teams are working incredibly hard to try to make this happen."
The DHB says the Highbrook and Mt Wellington vaccination centres will continue to take booked appointments.
