Covid-19 Delta outbreak: Young Kawerau leaders head 'significant shift' in vaccinations

A Bay of Plenty town beset by low vaccination numbers has experienced a "significant shift" in uptakes.

Kawerau recorded its first positive Covid-19 case on November 27 and on Friday entered the red traffic light level. But in recent weeks there has been a surge in the number of people getting vaccinated.As of October 28, just 69 per cent of the town's 6,115 eligible population had had their first dose and of these 51 per cent had their second.

By November 28, 80.3 per cent had their first dose and 66.4 per cent their second.

Mayor Malcolm Campbell said there had been about 860 vaccinations in the last two weeks of November.

Prior to that, getting local residents vaccinated had been challenging.

Kawerau mayor Malcolm Campbell. Photo / NZME

"A lot of people come from out of town [to vaccinate] and they just don't trust them."

However, he credited a contingent of younger people returning to Kawerau from tertiary study for helping change the tide.

"It's really because of these young people working with our young rangatahi, they're having a tremendous response," Campbell said.

"They know them, they know their families. There's that trust there.

"And they are taking their names, addresses and will go knocking on doors later to give them the second dose.

"In their hands, we can really help [reach vaccination targets]".

Chris Marjoribanks, chief executive of Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau Hauora, said young leaders have helped lead a 'significant shift' in vaccination uptake in the town. Photo / NZME

Tūwharetoa ki Kawerau Hauora chief executive Chris Marjoribanks said the town's rangatahi sparked a "significant shift" in vaccination uptakes.
Marjoribanks said young people who had previously taken part in leadership and community programmes were using the skills they learned from those programmes, with the networks they formed, to help engage unvaccinated sectors of the community.

"They've come back into the community in an active role to increase vaccinations, particularly in Māori whanau. They're getting parents, koro and kuia to come in for vaccination as well. In the last two weeks, we've had [hundreds of] first doses.

"That's a real positive. These were people sitting out there not getting involved in the process. That's a significant shift."

In recent weeks the hauora, in partnership with Kawerau District Council and Bay of Plenty District Health Board, has held super-vaccination days at local parks, with music, barbecues and swimming. Another vaccination event focused on gangs was expected in the near future.

Marjoribanks said there was a clear need to look at different methods of engaging with people, particularly those on the fringes of mainstream society.

"If you just expect people to all show up into a centralised venue, you are going to have a hard time engaging isolated sectors of the community."

Marjoribanks said the challenge now was to keep this new momentum going.

In 2019, Marjoribanks was honoured with a Queen's Service Medal for his services to youth and the Kawerau community.

Young leaders identified in helping lead the vaccination drive were approached for comment at the beginning of the week but this was not released by Kawerau District Council before publication on Saturday.