Rangiora health hub: New immunisation centre opens in Tauranga

A new and "accessible" immunisation hub has officially opened in Tauranga ahead of what one doctor expects to be a "really busy" winter for jabs.

The Rangiora health hub is a partnership between Ngāti Ranginui Iwi and the Bay of Plenty District Health Board to provide accessible immunisation services and information in Tauranga.

The hub in Fraser Cove shopping centre is open to everyone in Tauranga who wants to get their vaccinations for Covid, flu, measles, mumps and rubella.

Appointments are not necessary and it will be open seven days a week, including public holidays.

The hub formally opened yesterday with a ceremony and an official blessing of the taonga [treasure], unveiled by Ngāti Ranginui Iwi chief executive Mel Tata and the Bay of Plenty DHB chief medical officer of health Dr Luke Bradford. Merivale School students were also at the ceremony singing waiata [songs].

Ngāti Ranginui Iwi chief executive Mel Tata said the hub would provide education and information, as well as immunisations. Photo / Mead Norton

Speaking to the Bay of Plenty Times, Ngāti Ranginui Iwi chief executive Mel Tata said the hub would be open to everyone in Tauranga Moana, from tamariki [children] to kaumātua [elderly].

"We want to be there for those that are at work, for those who only have a day off a week. We just want to be open and accessible to everybody."

But vaccinations were not the "central focus," she said.

"It is around education and information. We want to be a centre of health and we want our whānau to come in and ... feel confident in the environment that is Rangiora."

Additional hub services would help with patients' "continuity of care" by connecting them to GPs and supporting them with their hauora. Social support would also be available.

Tata said: "If you come in for an immunisation we want to know that there is a relationship beginning with the health sector."

Merivale School students sang waiata [songs] at the ceremony. Photo / Mead Norton

At the ceremony, Tata said the partnership between iwi and DHB was formed in 2020 to create a "response model" to Covid-19. She said Covid-19 had "emphasised and exacerbated" inequities on whānau at that time.

"The supply [and] demand of health services to the need of our whānau was very imbalanced."

As an iwi, it decided to respond to the needs of whānau with an immunisation health hub, which was originally located on First Ave.

Dr Luke Bradford hopes the new immunisation hub would help increase Māori childhood vaccination rates. Photo / Mead Norton

Bay of Plenty District Health Board chief medical officer of health Dr Luke Bradford said the hub would be "really busy" in the next two months as there would be "a big drive" in flu and Covid-19 booster shots.

He said a "sign of success" of the hub would be an increase in Māori childhood vaccination rates which were "too low" at the moment.

"The services we deliver are not recognised by the people as being suitable for them, so this is an opportunity to change that."

This would help prevent outbreaks of measles, mumps and whooping cough, he said.

Bradford said people could access immunisation services in a "more convenient manner" in a "normal and natural" environment.

"If we can get Māori and others in the area who have struggled to engage with health services to feel comfortable here and know where to seek the help they need ... that will be a real win."

At the ceremony, Bradford said childhood immunisation rates were "terrible" in the Bay and the hub was an opportunity to change that.

"People can come at the weekends and come out of hours, when they are doing their shopping ... without having to sit in a waiting room full of sick people."

Rangiora offers free, walk-in immunisations including:

•Covid-19 vaccinations for tamariki aged five and older and boosters for people 16 and older

•Flu shots for people who are either Māori or Pasifika aged 55 and older, for all people 65 and older, pregnant, or living with a long-term medical condition

•Measles, mumps & rubella vaccinations for people aged 16 and older.