Covid 19 coronavirus Delta outbreak: Dunedin stadium becomes walk-in vaccination clinic for students

Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin. Photo / Supplied

Mass vaccination next week will become the newest attraction at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin.

Ngai Tahu-operated health provider Te Kaika, which has operated the successful drive-through vaccination pop-up clinic at the Edgar Centre and a clinic in Caversham, yesterday confirmed it would run another large clinic at the stadium next week, aimed at protecting more than 6000 students from Covid-19.

The clinic will be open for two days, August 30 and 31, from 9am to 4pm.

Te Kaika will run the clinic in association with Te Roopu Māori and the University of Otago Pacific Island Students' Association.

"Much like our Edgar Centre pop-up vaccine clinic, we are driving the vaccination for our high-priority Māori and Pasifika peoples, but it is open to the general student population, too," Te Kaika chief executive Albie Laurence said.

Although the national Covid-19 vaccination rollout has only just started taking bookings for those aged 30-plus, the Delta strain of the virus which has sparked the current alert level 4 lockdown has proven to have a higher infection rate for younger people.

Pacific Island students association president Melissa Lama said Māori and Pasifika people were a high priority for the vaccine rollout but it felt as if the needs of Otago students had been ignored.

She and Te Roopu Māori president Karamea Pewhairangi were delighted they were able to work with Te Kaika on a solution.

"There is richness in having students involved in the solution for the students it's serving," she said.

Laurence said having vaccinated more than 8000 people in the past week, Te Kaika knew how to operate such a clinic, even under level 4 conditions.

"We aim to vaccinate 6000 students in two days. The walk-in clinic will focus on the many flat and residential hall 'bubbles' which do not have ready access to cars."

The student associations would assist Te Kaika by communicating with students and encouraging them to get vaccinated, he said.