A team effort in Central Hawke's Bay reached a milestone today with 90 per cent of its eligible population now fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
Hawke's Bay DHB Covid-19 vaccination senior responsible officer Chris Mckenna said the vaccine roll-out, run by its council, iwi, general practice, hauora providers and the DHB, resulted in 11,350 people double vaccinated as of this morning.
"Reaching 90 per cent fully vaccinated is a fantastic milestone to achieve and means the community is in a better position to be protected from Covid-19. However, the mahi doesn't stop here as many people are now due for their booster dose, which is so important to get as it provides the best protection against the Omicron variant," Mckenna said.
"Anyone yet to get up-to-date with their vaccinations should get this done as soon as possible as there are many vaccine opportunities available in Central Hawke's Bay.
"Fully vaccinated people are less likely to get sick with the virus, less likely to pass it on and are much less likely to get seriously ill or require hospital care."
CHB Mayor Alex Walker said teamwork had been crucial to the community hitting the 90 per cent fully vaccinated mark this week.
"It was vital that every person, in every part of our district could access vaccination and teamwork has got us there. Together with Te Taiwhenua o Tamatea, council has worked alongside the DHB and health services to ensure that the vaccine roll-out works for us – by local people, for local people.
"With full hospital services up to an hour and a half away from some parts of Central Hawke's Bay, we need to ensure that we have done all we can to minimise the impacts of Covid-19 when it reaches us, and having such a high vaccination rate is a very good place to start from," Walker said.
