Doctor’s help gets musician playing again
American classical musician Geoffrey Pilkington and his family were staring down the barrel of a cloistered life in Auckland after the Covid vaccine system was unable to recognise his and his wife’s record of their Johnson & Johnson shot in March, a single shot vaccine.
Having drawn a blank with the Ministry of Health and vaccine pass officials since November 10, in writing and by phone, and with an imminent return to work as an orchestral French horn player, which requires proof of vaccination, in jeopardy, he shared his story with Stuff towards the end of last week.
It was only then that he found a saviour. Dr Rory Johnston is a GP partner at Remuera Medical Centre in Auckland and founder of the MedOnline internet-based GP service.
Johnston said sorting out the issue was a matter of checking
Pilkington’s previous vaccinations –
his American Johnson & Johnson and his Pfizer booster in New Zealand – were entered correctly in the CIR (Central Immunisation Register), along with valid proof, and that Pilkington’s identity was confirmed with his US passport.
He then had to raise a ticket behind the scenes for the CIR team at the Ministry of Health who had to undertake an additional verification step, he said.
‘‘Then we just need to ask the CIR to email him a code number, he tells us that code number within 15 minutes, and then the pass is emailed to him.’’
Pilkington said he did not believe people should have to go through such a rigmarole.
The Ministry of Health said the application can take up to 14 days, and most had been processed in that timeframe.