Bay of Plenty District Health Board has apologised to the Pasifika community for wrongly requesting passports be presented at Covid-19 vaccination appointments.

In a post on its Facebook page, the board says it's sorry for the distress and hurt caused.

"This is not our policy, nor a requirement, and we are deeply disappointed that this has happened.

"Our commitment is to ensure that we address the issues that led to this failure and ensure it absolutely does not happen again"

It acknowledged the impact it had on the Pasifika community's trust and confidence and said it had spoken to its Pasifika provider partner to express its apologies directly.

"We will also be connecting with community leaders to discuss this further, and to explore how we can work together to advance the health and wellbeing needs of our Pasifika community, including and beyond, the Covid-19 response.

"We are sorry."