Aucklanders attending a mass vaccination event on Friday have complained it's an "absolute shambles", with reports there were delays of up to an hour this morning.
More than 16,000 people are booked to get their COVID-19 jab over the next three days at the event, which is being held at the Vodafone Events Centre.
Participants are being bussed to the events centre from the Manukau Institute of Technology campus, with organisers earlier this morning saying the whole process "should take no more than an hour".
"It's a really quick experience. It's a short time out of people's day and hopefully one that they'll appreciate," mass vaccination lead Alex Pimm told The AM Show.
But based on what some people are posting online, not everything is going to schedule.
One person on Twitter wrote they had turned up for their 10:40am appointment "only to hear calls for 9:50".
"It's currently a 1 hour and 8 minute delay from scheduled time to getting on a bus at the Manukau mass vaccination event," they wrote.
Another person called the event an "absolute shambles".
"Running so late already that you need to wait [a] minimum 1 hour before your appointment before you even get registered," they wrote online.
Organisers said although there were a few hiccups early on, caused by people arriving too early, things appeared to be back on track now.
By 11:30am, more than 2000 people had received their vaccination, a spokesperson said.
Matt Hannant, programme director for the Northern Region Health Coordination Centre (NRHCC) COVID-19 vaccination programme said officials were working "as fast as they can" to process people.
"This morning a number of people turned up early to register for the event at MIT, which led to people needing to queue to do their registrations," he said in a statement.
"While we are very pleased that people are eager to attend, we do encourage anyone attending to arrive at the time of their appointment so they can register quickly and help us to manage flow.
"We have put on additional registration staff to help us register people more quickly, and are currently working as fast as we can to clear any backlog. We want to thank those who were in the queue earlier for their patience, and our team is working to ensure that everyone who arrives can get their vaccination as quickly and efficiently as possible."
He added there were a "number of contingency plans in place" to help manage any queues.
"This is the first time we have run a vaccination event of this scale in New Zealand, and we are working to quickly act on any learnings to help make the rest of the weekend and any future events flow smoothly."
Hannant said overall, organisers had been "delighted with the community's response" to the event.
The complaints about waiting times followed frustration from some commuters in the city over the fact one of the city's train lines would be closed over the weekend.
People attending the event have been encouraged to use public transport to arrive at MIT - with public transport free for anyone registered to receive their jab - but the event coincides with a planned closure of the Eastern Line.
Auckland Transport (AT) told Newshub that KiwiRail booked in the closure at the start of the year for "critical rail maintenance".
"The authorities were advised of this when planning the event this weekend," said spokesperson Mark Hannan.
Organisers of the vaccination event told Newshub they were aware of the rail closure during planning, but are confident it won't be a problem.
