An innovative collaboration between a building supplies firm and the Northland District Health Board is bringing Covid-19 vaccinations to hard-to-reach tradies.
From 7-9am on Friday the health board set up a mobile clinic at Bay of Islands ITM in Waipapa to catch builders picking up the day's materials.
As an added incentive anyone getting the jab was treated to a free barista-made coffee, with ITM picking up the bill, while they waited out their 15-minute observation period.
Public health nurse Kerry Cane, of Paihia, said tradies were already waiting when the team arrived at 6.30am to set up.
In the first hour they delivered 10 jabs, some of them to workers who would have been hard to reach through normal channels.
Among those getting a jab was builder Joshua Hinds of Kerikeri.
The 21-year-old said he didn't like needles but he had a good reason to get vaccinated.
''I've got a few people around me who can't get it done for medical reasons so I'm thinking of them,'' he said.
His boss told him about the initiative they day before.
''It makes it easier than trying to book in, and it means I don't have to take time off work.''
During the wait Hinds showed he had more than just building skills.
When health board staff had trouble getting their computer system working he stepped in, as the youngest and most IT-savvy person in the queue, and sorted it out for them.
A week earlier tradies were targeted at a drive-through vaccination centre on Whangārei's Kioreroa Rd with a dedicated no-booking-needed express lane.
Last week truckies had priority; from September 27 to October 1 farmers will have their turn in the fast lane.
■ As of Friday morning 161,614 doses of the vaccine had been administered across Northland with 1367 of those on Thursday. So far 59,495 Northlanders have been fully immunised and 102,119 have had at least one shot. On Thursday 367 tests were carried out bringing the Northland total since the Delta outbreak began to 14,686.
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