Gaining Covid-19 Vaccination Passes has been a headache for some people, with locals offering support for those who struggle to find their way around digital mazes. 

Calm Computing’s Andy Dougherty has been assisting locals to acquire their vaccination passes, particularly the eldery who have found the online process difficult. 

“Vaccine passports, because of the demand the email system was a nightmare, people can pop into UniChem Pharmacy and get it printed out and laminated a lot faster than going online. 

“Then they can add it onto their smartphone via Google Pays, Apple Wallet, or what I use, StoCard if they wish.  

“StoCard is a small app on my phone that allows me to add all the cards we get in our lives.

“I will point out a lot of the initial difficulties are over now, it was just that they had such a high demand at the start.”

Andy says the process could have been done better, but politics got in the way. 

“Done better, easy -  let the medical and scientist experts call the plays and keep politics out of it - but hey we don't get that option.”

When it comes to retail and hospitality, The Gate, Courthouse Cafe, and Jamies Jewellers all said they are doing business almost as usual under the traffic light system, with no major hiccups. 

The major hiccup came as the online process backed up, with the government website failing to cope with the weight of numbers. 

Pharmacists nationally said they were stretched and tired providing Covid-19 vaccines and passes on top of their usual workload.

More than 400 pharmacies were brought in earlier in the month to distribute vaccine certificates when the Ministry of Health's help centre was overwhelmed by up to 70,000 calls a day.

According to RNZ, Pharmaceutical Society president Professor Rhiannon Braund said members got just a few days' warning but they were willing to help.

"When these decisions get made obviously it's quite quick. So there are lots of conversations about what is possible, and then suddenly, something happens. And so for a lot of the profession, they sort of felt that it was short notice.

"But I guess this is the nature of the beast right now, we just try to be as proactive and respond as quickly as we can," she said.

People were coming with problems other services haven't solved.

"In the first couple of days, these were quite time consuming, getting the pharmacists to get the system up and running, just navigating the portal. And of course, there were some tech issues because so many people were trying to get the vaccine passes, coming up to the cut-off date."

Some pharmacies are able to print vaccination passes. 

She expected pharmacies would only get busier with holiday-makers away from home this summer, and new Covid-19 response measures.

"The rapid testing that's coming online in the next week or so, the announcement about the childhood vaccinations ... I think we're actually going to see quite a surge [in work]."

She said it had been "a really busy year" and the workforce was "stretched".

"People are tired and I just hope that people can take some time to look after themselves, as well as the patients."

People getting vaccines or vaccine passes from pharmacies do not have to pay a fee.

The Ministry of Health had issued 3.25 million vaccine certificates by yesterday afternoon.

In a statement, the Ministry said it "reached out to pharmacies earlier in the month regarding the process for producing the vaccine passes, and provided training courses and other support. 

"We are continuing to provide ongoing support to pharmacies regarding My Vaccine Pass, and acknowledge and appreciate their efforts."

Retail NZ chief executive Greg Harford said he has heard of shoppers getting upset over staff checking vaccine passes.

"There will be perhaps some queues and limited numbers of people allowed into [some] stores.

"Please just be patient, everyone will get what they need in the end."

He said reports of customers getting angry with shop staff asking to see proof of vaccination were unacceptable.

"I have heard about some customers getting pretty grumpy when they're being asked to show their vaccine passes.

"My message to everyone is 'please stay calm, if you're asked for a vaccine pass be ready with it because it is a government requirement'."

Harford said Covid-19 supply chain disruption meant there were shortages of certain products, so people should get out shopping this weekend if they want to secure particular items.