James Cook High School won Auckland Airport's Do It For Each Other social media vaccination competition with this video. Video / Auckland Airport
Get vaccinated for your whānau.
That's the message from James Cook High School students who won the Auckland Airport Do It For Each Other social media campaign worth $5000 plus $5000 in Haier whiteware.
A group of dance, drama and health academy students asked members of the school community to write down who they got vaccinated for and take a photo of themselves holding it up.
The students then put dozens of those together to create a video urging others to get vaccinated to help protect others.
"More than 80 per cent of Aucklanders have had at least one Covid vaccine dose - enough to fill Eden Park more than 22 times. But the job is not done. We got vaccinated and so can you," the video starts with.
After sharing photos of dozens of students, staff and families explaining why they got vaccinated the students sum up by saying, "Let's do it for our tamariki, rangatahi and our babies".
James Cook High School principal Grant McMillan said what made the video special is that people were willing to share their reasons for getting vaccinated against Covid 19.
"I'm very proud and appreciative of those who put it together and those who also shared. I'm sure it's helping," he said.
"It was also a really neat way of marking a moment in time. At some stage people are going to write text books about this."
Where to get a vaccination in Auckland - without a booking
This map shows large vaccinations centres from the Unite again Covid-19 infomation page. For more detailed information about your neighbourhood visit Healthpoint.
He said, as a school, they had been working with the local marae and health agencies to encourage vaccination and support pop-up centres.
He said awareness of the importance of vaccines, not just for your own health but for those around you, had been growing among the school and wider community as it had been nationally.
"As many other schools are, we're trying to play our part to do our bit to support the work of others and the raising awareness of the importance of getting vaccinated."
McMillan said there was good support from the community about what the school was trying to do but on the occasion difficult conversations came up, he was clear about his reasons, as a principal, for supporting the rollout.
"There are some people who may not be able to get vaxxed and that's okay - it might be for health or other reasons, that's okay. But for everyone who can, let's try to support them all to do so, that everybody is made safe," he said.
"If I'm really pressed I'm very, clear that I think vaccination is the only way we stop repeating history - be it the 1820s to 40s, be it 1917-18, all of those things.
"We know that vaccination protects people from harm. What school would not want to look after their people and their community?"
He also wanted to thank Auckland Airport and Haier for their generosity and said he was waiting for the students who made the video to come back to him about how they thought the prize should be used before making any decisions.
Flat Bush School, Alfriston College and Aorere College also won $10,000 and $10,000 worth of stationery from the Warehouse Stationery for receiving the most votes from those vaccinated at the airport drive-through vaccination centre.
Wiri Central School, Opaheke School and Hingaia Peninsula School also won a random draw of South Auckland schools and will each get a Haier cooking package, including three cooking stations for their school, and a Haier cooking and nutrition programme to support kids learning to cook.
