[ad_1]
New Zealand’s first large-scale Covid-19 vaccination clinic has opened in Auckland, as healthcare workers strike out at the families of border workers.
Chief Health Officer Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the clinic had been established as officials accelerated the next stage of the Covid-19 immunization program: targeting the estimated 50,000 household contacts at the border and quarantine personnel and managed isolation.
About 150 people will be vaccinated at the clinic each day, and authorities anticipate that these numbers will “increase rapidly” over the next week.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH / SUPPLIED
Sa Fogasavaii, the father of an Air New Zealand border worker, received his first Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday.
The clinic’s opening Tuesday, in Auckland’s southern suburb of East Tāmaki, comes after the government announced it had obtained an additional 8.5 million doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, one for every New Zealander.
READ MORE:
* Covid-19: Everything You Need To Know About New Zealand Coronavirus Vaccines
* The first real-world data for Covid-19 vaccines is now available, and it’s really good news
* Covid-19: First batch of vaccines administered in New Zealand, with 25 healthcare workers receiving injections
* Covid-19: Vaccination of everyone in New Zealand will take ‘all year’, says Ardern
Two more large-scale vaccination centers, in the west and central Auckland, will open in the coming weeks, where the initial focus will be on the domestic contacts of border workers and MIQ.
A total of 134 people were vaccinated Tuesday.
There were 10 vaccinators on site, including some who had been vaccinating border workers for the past few weeks.
Health authorities are also partnering with Maori and Pacific NGOs to establish smaller community vaccination clinics for families in South Auckland.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH / Supplied
Luana, left, and Sa Fogasavaii, parents of a border worker, were at the Auckland South Clinic to get vaccinated against Covid-19 on Tuesday.
Air New Zealand employee James Fogasavaii’s parents, Sa and Luana, and their sister Denise received their first Covid-19 vaccine at the clinic on Tuesday morning.
Fogasavaii said it was important for his family to be vaccinated, to protect themselves from the virus but also to be advocates for their community and church: “just to spread the word that it is important to get vaccinated.”
His father, Sa Fogasavaii, was grateful for the opportunity to get vaccinated: “It is good for you guys, for everyone, for your life, your children; if you love your children, come and do it.”
Aaron Te Moananui, whose partner works at an MIQ facility, wanted to encourage kiwis to get vaccinated.
“Living with someone who works on the borders and just putting my family in safe arms makes me feel comfortable getting this injection today,” he said.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH / SUPPLIES
Aaron Te Moananui, whose partner works at an MIQ facility, encouraged other New Zealanders to get vaccinated.
Te Moananui urged “unsafe” people to talk to those who have been vaccinated.
“You don’t know until you get here … the nurses will make you feel welcome and feel like there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Whānau, come and get the jab.”
Only those who were invited would be vaccinated at the clinic, Bloomfield said.
Troels Sommerville / Stuff
The country’s first vaccination clinic dedicated to Covid-19 has opened in East Tāmaki.
As part of the rollout, border and MIQ workers subject to a mandatory trial order are asked to nominate the people they live with and record their contact details.
The District Health Boards then invite those contacts to schedule a vaccination at the center.
They must then present the invitation letter to confirm that they were a family contact.
The 50,000 figure is an estimate, based on four people per frontline worker; the actual number of household contacts invited to be vaccinated will depend on how many people are nominated.
Troels Sommerville / Stuff
Two other similar large-scale vaccination centers, in west and central Auckland, will open in the coming weeks, said Dr Ashley Bloomfield.
The director of the Ministry of Health’s immunization group for the Covid-19 vaccine and immunization program, Dr. Joe Bourne, said the program focused on building a “ring of protection” across the country.
He said the key was to make the process work on a national scale, but also to allow variations in the program to accommodate differences between communities.
The response had been positive, as those through the center had viewed immunization as “a community responsibility” rather than a personal choice, he said.
Matt Hannant, vaccination program leader for the Northern Region Health Coordination Center (NRHCC), said the process had gone well so far for the 80 employees who would be in charge of the center.
He said the goal was to make the process as accessible as possible and that the information was provided in multiple languages.
Bloomfield said the next stage of the rollout was to vaccinate the nation’s roughly 55,000 frontline health workers, many of whom would be vaccinated at similar dedicated centers.
It is expected that it will be necessary all year round to vaccinate the general population.
