No vaccine mandate for council

The Marlborough District Council has not finalised its staff vaccination policy, despite other councils across New Zealand introducing mandates for employees.

In Christchurch, vaccination became mandatory for all staff on January 10, resulting in 13 job losses.

And Tasman District Council staff have until March 4 to provide proof of vaccination.

Tasman District Council chief executive Janine Dowding said the emergence of the highly-transmissible Omicron variant of Covid-19 in the region elevated the risk to staff and community.

A Marlborough District Council spokesman said yesterday it was currently consulting staff on its draft vaccine policy, which was expected to be finalised early next month.

Consultation began on January 11.

The council had vaccination details of all employees who legally had to be vaccinated, such as those who interacted directly with the public.

It had also sought voluntary declarations from those not legally required to get vaccinated.

The spokesman said the proposed policy showed the council was committed to keeping its staff and people with whom they come into contact with, healthy and safe.

‘‘It’s proposed that council will undertake risk assessments for roles in relation to the risk posed by Covid-19,’’ the spokesman said.

‘‘Where a risk assessment determines there is a high risk of contracting and transmitting Covid-19 to others, council will require that such work is only undertaken by vaccinated workers.’’

He said there were two reasons why the council would require a role to be undertaken by someone who was vaccinated: when it had been mandated by a public health order or required by law, or when an individual was not able to perform their role due to third party requirements such as restricted access by vaccine mandates.

‘‘For all roles, receiving the vaccine is strongly encouraged,’’ the spokesman said.

‘‘The council believes that being fully vaccinated is a significant control mechanism in gaining more protection in the work place and helps to contribute towards making the community safer.’’

Meanwhile, the Marlborough District Council this week maintained it did not intend to introduce My Vaccine Pass requirements at council premises such as libraries, customer service counters, and waste management services or in public places such as parks, reserves and sports fields.