Unvaccinated bar boss changes his mind after traffic light news

Saturday, 23 October 2021

The Government's new Covid-19 framework includes a 'traffic light' system and widespread vaccination certificate enforcement.

If John Lawrenson doesn’t get vaccinated, he eventually won’t be able to enter his own hospitality businesses.

The Lawrenson Group chief executive, who owns eight bars and restaurants in Hamilton and one in Auckland, said he had been waiting for the Novavax vaccine to be rolled out.

Novavax is under review by medicines' regulator Medsafe and the first doses are not due in the country until the first quarter of 2022.

John Lawrenson owns multiple bars and restaurants in Hamilton and one in Auckland.

But after the Government's announcement on Friday, which said vaccination certificates would be needed for any gatherings, Lawrenson has changed his mind and will have to get the vaccination “some time next week” so he can run his businesses.

As well as The Factory in Hamilton, Lawrenson owns Bar 101 in Auckland, The Outback and Coyote nightclubs, among others.

“I don’t see how I could operate my business [without a vaccine].”

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The Outback is owned by the Lawrenson Group and can hold up to 2000 people.

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Although Lawrenson could decide to operate his venues as places you could go without having a vaccination certificate, he said, financially, it wasn’t feasible.

He had already lost about $500,000 from lockdowns this year, and under the new traffic light system, he could have a larger number of patrons in venues if vaccination certificates were required.

“As soon as you get to orange, there are no limits on hospitality gatherings at all – as long as everyone in the business is vaccinated.

“But if vaccination certificates aren’t being used, you’re limited to 50 people.”

Lawrenson said if he wanted to stay in business, he had to enforce vaccination certificates.

“Ethically, I think it’s pretty murky…but here’s the thing, if I stand with my conviction and I say ‘I’m not doing this, I’m allowing anyone into my businesses’…immediately I can't do any Factory gigs….vaccinated people can’t go to Keystone to dance. That’s not a decision I’m going to make.

“I have worked a third of my life to build the Lawrenson Group. I have had years where I literally didn’t take a weekend.

“So now I don’t want to go broke. I don’t want to lose my business, and if I can only have 50 people in [Hamilton’s] The Outback when I can have 2000 then yeah, I will go broke.”

Overall, he said he was pleased with the plan unveiled and said it was something they had been asking for from Government for a long time.

“If you put my ethical concerns aside, it’s great. It’s better than I hoped for. This will give us some level of certainty, it gives us something to work towards.”

There was still some clarity needed, with Lawrenson saying even though it was clear customers needed a vaccine certificate to enter the premises, it wasn’t clear about staff, but he would assume they did too.