Kia A Ora Ngātiwai nurse Stephanie Donnelly gives quadbike-riding Rāwhiti resident Viki Heta her second dose. Photo / Peter de Graaf
They came by car, on foot and by quadbike.
A week-long push to get Covid vaccines to the furthest corners of the Ngātiwai rohe started on Monday, and locals used all manner of transport to get to the pop-up clinic.
All that was missing was a horse.
The initiative, by Kamo-based Māori health provider Kia A Ora Ngātiwai and the Northland District Health Board, started in Rāwhiti and is slowly working its way south.
After Rāwhiti, an isolated settlement east of Russell, the crew headed down the coast to Ngaiotonga. On Tuesday they visited Oākura and Whananāki North; today they are due at Tutukākā and Pātaua South.
The pop-up service operates as a drive-through clinic. Patients get the jab and wait out the 15-minute observation period in their cars.
Or they can get vaccinated in the health trust's van.
Rāwhiti contractor and volunteer firefighter Viki Heta arrived on a quadbike to get her second jab, grateful that a clinic had come to her.
''I'm so pleased. Over the past three weeks I've looked at different venues but I couldn't make it fit around work,'' she said.
Her closest regular clinic is in Russell but even that's a long drive on windy roads.
First in line on Monday was Leif Coombes, who had to be vaccinated for his job in security.
''But I think it's also the right thing to do. You've got choices. I'm protecting my whānau and friends,'' he said.
His wife, Lianne Coombes was part of a small protest at the venue outside Te Rāwhiti Marae, saying she had suffered adverse reactions to vaccines as a child and again as an adult after the flu jab.
Instead of getting vaccinated she said she was doing her best to boost her ''God-given immune system'' by eating plenty of vegetables and superfoods, and getting fresh air and exercise.
A notable feature of the Rāwhiti pop-up clinic was the amicable discussions between health staff and the three protesters, who were even offered tea and biscuits.
Kia A Ora Ngātiwai clinical manager Sharon Russell said the health board and all health providers, Māori and mainstream, were taking part in a 28-day challenge to get as many people vaccinated as possible by the end of the month.
That meant they would all have their second dose by Christmas, before families gathered and the influx of summer visitors arrived in Northland.
''We want to keep everyone safe and give our community as much immunity as possible.''
Russell said some people were happy to drive to town to get vaccinated but she didn't want anyone left out because of a lack of transport or other access issues.
The health trust is bringing a team of nurses and navigators (staff who can give advice and referrals to social services) and an immunisation van to each pop-up.
The health board is bringing more nurses, an administrator to take care of registration, and a campervan where vaccines are prepared.
The Rāwhiti pop-up clinic was not especially busy, with seven vaccinations in the first hour and a half.
''For us it's not about the numbers, it's about the opportunity. Anyone who gets it is a success,'' Russell said.
According to the district health board, as of yesterday the total number of Covid-19 vaccinations delivered in Northland was just under 157,200.
A total of 100,105 people had received their first dose and 57,094 people had had both doses.
As of September 12 (the most recent figures available), 41.6 per cent of Northland Māori had received their first dose compared to 47.3 per cent of Pasifika and 66.4 per cent of non-Māori/non-Pasifika.
The figures for both doses were 20.7 per cent, 22.5 per cent and 40.1 per cent, respectively.
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