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Essential worker shocked at being part of vaccine botch-up

August 26, 2021
The essential worker was notified by this emailed letter.

An essential worker who's been self-isolating for a week says she's hugely surprised the Ministry of Health only told her today that she's also one of the people who may have received a diluted vaccine - and only via an emailed letter.

“They call me every single day to check I'm not leaving the house and to ask about symptoms, why couldn't they call me about this too?” she said to 1NEWS.

The North Shore resident, who does not want to be identified, checked the locations of interest as they came out on  Wednesday night and realised she had been at one the previous Sunday.

She immediately went for a test early on Thursday morning and has been self-isolating since then.  

She says she heard about the vaccine botch-up at Highbrook but as her vaccination was in the middle of July, she assumed she would have been contacted much sooner about it if there was any chance she could be affected. 

"It's not really good enough is it? I'm doing everything right and everything they ask of me, and this is how I find out I may not be properly protected?"

The woman says she found the information provided wasn't particularly detailed or reassuring, especially the suggestion that the next steps would be advised in the middle of September.

"I'm in a public-facing essential role and it's hard to be confident now in the effectiveness of my vaccine. I'm supportive of the vaccine in general but this has certainly been a shock and I think they could have handled it a lot better" she said.

"It doesn't feel like essential [workers] are a priority at all for the Government, despite what they say in the media."

The letter recommends she get her second dose straight away but doesn’t provide information on how to safely do this when self-isolating.

The woman feels frustrated, and let-down.

"It's all the same Ministry but it’s like one bit has no idea what the other bits are doing. They must know on their systems that I'm self-isolating right?”

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