March 10, 2021
South Auckland jumps queue for vaccine roll out
COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says the targeted roll-out over next three to four months will start to reach 2 million New Zealanders in most at-risk groups.
He says the bulk of vaccinations for the 50,000 border and managed isolation and quarantine workers, their household contacts and the people they live with will be completed this month.
Work has also started vaccinating the 57,000 healthcare workers on community frontlines.
Group 2 also includes other healthcare workers and the elderly and vulnerable in the Counties Manukau DHB area, where there are many border operations and MIQ facilities.
Mr Hipkins says 40,000 courses of the vaccine are being allocated to Māori and Pacific providers who work directly with older people.
There will be a range of options to make it as easy as possible for people to access the vaccine, including Māori and Pacific providers, pop-up centres, GPs, medical and hauora centres, community clinics and larger scale events.
An online tool that helps people find out when they can get the vaccine will be launched shortly.
The rest of the population will be able to be vaccinated from July onwards.
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