Anger is growing as Kiwis around the country experience disruption in their attempts to get vaccinated.
Some have been turned away from vaccination sites, despite getting an all-clear to head along while others have had their vaccinations cancelled and delayed by two months.
Newshub has been contacted by a stream of people expecting to be vaccinated on Friday but were unable to despite the COVID-19 vaccination programme said to be resuming on Thursday nationwide.
The frustration follows a wave of queries on Thursday with similar issues that don't appear to be resolved.
One man told Newshub after receiving text and email reminders yesterday, he turned up to the vaccination centre on Manukau Road, next to Alexandra Park in Auckland on Friday morning and was turned away at the gate.
"Definitely mixed messages over the vaccination rollout," he explained.
He later got a text from the Auckland Vaccination Team, telling him to ignore the reminders he had been sent, cancelling his appointment, scheduled for three hours earlier.
"I don't mind not getting the jab, but if they can't get their messaging right on this, it does make me wonder what else they're screwing up."
One woman said her husband was due to have his vaccination on Friday at the WeCare Pharmacy in Lincoln, just outside of Christchurch, but it was cancelled just minutes before the appointment and moved to October.
"I seriously do not understand why at a time like this, vaccinations are being cancelled," she told Newshub.
"The advised recommendation is to rebook, however, my husband now needs to wait until October when there is availability – this is ludicrous.
"My parents who are aged 75 and 77 are still waiting. What is wrong with our system? Why can’t vaccinations be given from your car like we did last year with flu vaccines? This is seriously frustrating."
Drive-thru vaccines are being considered by the Government however the move comes with a number of pros and cons such as people not having to get out of their cars, reducing the risk of infection versus traffic jams and having enough space for people to wait being an issue.
In a statement, the Northern Region Health Coordination Centre (NRHCC) said eight out of its 13 community vaccination centres are operating today however Birkenhead, Epsom, Highbrook, Pukekohe and Takanini remain closed.
"These centres remain closed as we have urgently diverted staff to support the surge in testing today following the announcement of further cases and related locations of interest.
"We are working to re-open the remaining centres as quickly as possible and will have more reopening from tomorrow. Most centres will be operating at reduced capacity due to the need for social distancing measures."
One woman told Newshub she is "angry and disappointed" about the "absolute shambles" the vaccine rollout is.
Her partner is group 3, and went on Friday morning to his booked vaccine slot at a Wellington centre.
"It was chaos. People without bookings, no one social distancing and he was told even with his booking it would be 3-4 hrs wait.
"Given the crazy situation he made the call that waiting in those conditions was too dangerous and he was more likely to catch COVID in a non socially distanced queue so left without getting his jab."
Despite Ministry of Health advice outlining "if you don’t hear from us, please come to your appointment as scheduled" people have been following the guidelines only to find they still can't be seen.
One person went to get their first vaccination at Birkenhead on the North Shore, lined up, only to be told at 7.55am they had just been informed they aren't allowed to open.
Another woman told Newshub her booked vaccination for today was cancelled despite receiving a confirmation email on Thursday.
"Now that she has opened up vaccinations for half the country we will not be able to get a new appointment until about the end of October.
"Why did they not bring in reinforcements from other unaffected parts of New Zealand to help with the testing stations or even the army?
"Maintaining a high rate of vaccinations is just as important as testing."
Vaccination sites operating under alert level 4 conditions does mean capacity will be reduced due to physical distancing requirements and other safety measures, reducing capacity means some appointments will be postponed.
"If we need to postpone your appointment you will be contacted by the Ministry of Health, your DHB or healthcare provider. "
Associate Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall told The AM Show on Friday morning that on Thursday - the second day of the lockdown - vaccination centres were already running at 50 percent, and they should be "back to full over the next couple of days".
"We're aiming in a couple of days to have all of those centres back open and to be functioning at 100 percent. With respect to that gentleman, I'm very sorry about that situation - it's not right," she said, after being told about the 62-year-old's difficulty getting vaccinated.
"But I want to point out [that] we vaccinated over 20,000 people yesterday, so it can't be a widespread occurrence."
ACT leader David Seymour said in a statement on Friday it's a challenge to find anything that is different or improved from the last lockdown 18-months ago.
“High test numbers are great, but it shouldn’t be this hard to get one. Meanwhile, some health workers have been taken away from vaccinating stations to help with testing.
“Many of those testing stations are drive-thru, but vaccination apparently cannot be done by car.
“So long as the Government is committed to nasopharyngeal swabs, testing will take skilled people away from vaccination centres, some of which are closed as a result. One of the advantages of saliva testing is that it does not require a health professional to make you salivate.
“Given the pressure on health workers, sending symptomatic health workers off to get tested is incomprehensible. There should be green lanes for frontline workers, a simple innovation that was, again, missed for 18 months."
On Friday, Dr Ashley Bloomfield urged everyone in Auckland booked for a vaccination to phone ahead due to staff supporting the surge of testing at the moment.
He said there is a shortage of healthcare workers able to facilitate the vaccinations in Auckland and the Ministry of Health is working closely with DHBs after being thrown "a couple of curveballs", such as a positive COVID case being a healthcare worker.
