August 29 2021
There are 83 Covid community cases today, taking the total cases in the outbreak to 511. The number is similar to the total reported yesterday - and officials and experts will be hoping this signals that the country's Delta outbreak might be at a plateau.
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says the city should get priority over the rest of New Zealand for the vaccine rollout.
He said Auckland is the "risk area" with the majority of the quarantine facilities and the gateway to the rest of the country.
What's more, he said, Auckland is in alert level 4 for a further two weeks while the rest of New Zealand is in level 3 and possibly going down to level 2.
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff. Photo / Alex Burton
"The greatest level of risk at the moment is Auckland and the most vulnerable are sub-groups within Auckland.
"I'm not saying Auckland first, but risk areas first," he said.
Goff said he had been working with Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall to see if Auckland can sustain the higher level of vaccinations in the past fortnight, which have got up to 25,000 a day in the city using things like a drive through at Auckland Airport park and ride and West Auckland's Trust Arena.
His comments come as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has admitted that the vaccine rollout may have to be slowed down to avoid running out of doses.
She has not ruled out halting new bookings in other regions so it keeps pace in Auckland, where 1.43 million people are eligible for the vaccine.
Goff is encouraged by the Prime Minister's comments, saying he has been pushing for Auckland to get vaccinated as a priority since the last lockdown and is still pushing for it.
"I'm sure my Facebook page will be flooded with comments 'you Aucklanders want everything' but the Prime Minister acknowledged we are doing the heavy lifting in Auckland for the rest of the country," he said.
It is in the interests of the whole country that Aucklanders get the maximum protection against Covid outbreaks in Auckland so it doesn't spread to the rest of the country the next time it might occur.
"We hope that it doesn't happen but we know with this particular variant it just goes like wildfire," he said.
Manurewa-Papakura councillor Daniel Newman said a higher concentration of vaccines directed at Māori and Pacific peoples is necessary. Pacific peoples number 200,924 and Maori 132,388 of the city's eligible population for the vaccine.
"A higher concentration of vaccine doses coupled with changes to improve uptake among Māori and Pacific population groups are vital to reduce the threat of yo-yoing lockdowns.
Manurewa-Papakura councillor Daniel Newman. Photo / File
"While the overall surge of vaccinations is welcomed, the momentum is not even. The uptake of vaccination among Māori and Pacific peoples, particularly those in younger age groups, is still not high enough," Newman said.
He said Ministry of Health vaccination data showed that rates of uptake among Māori and Pacific peoples is still lagging.
The booking system is a helpful way to manage access to vaccines, he said, but walk-ups and drive-through vaccinations with no booking are really important too.
"In South Auckland, for example, it is vital that we remove all barriers and make it as simple as possible to get people vaccinated without delay."
