The K'aute Pasifika drive-through vaccination clinic at the Waikato Settlement Centre was busy last Thursday. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
The K'aute Pasifika drive-through vaccination clinic at the Waikato Settlement Centre was busy last Thursday. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
Despite a record week of vaccinations in the Waikato last week with 55 per cent of the population now fully vaccinated, the Government has today announced the region will stay at alert level 3 until Monday due to two new unlinked cases.
In the week to Sunday, October 10, the Waikato DHB was in for a positive surprise, breaking more than one record. Firstly, it delivered 25,000 vaccinations more than planned, which brought the total number of vaccinations given in the Waikato in one week to a record of 51,947.
On Thursday last week, the Waikato cracked the highest daily vaccination rate so far by delivering more than 10,000 vaccinations in one day.
The DHB also vaccinated the highest number of Māori in a day with 1903 Waikato Māori coming through the numerous vaccination centres. This led to another milestone as over 60,000 Waikato Māori had now had their first vaccination.
The new pop-up mobile vaccination clinics going out into rural areas such as Raglan, Tirau, and more-remote areas like Ruapehu, National Park, and Rarimu have helped to reach those record numbers.
Waikato DHB vaccine programme lead Maree Munro said the achievement was a great example of a collaborative effort.
"Together with all of our providers we have been able to reach into our diverse and rural communities to get people vaccinated closer to home. I want to thank everyone in Waikato for coming forward and getting their vaccinations so that we can all be safe.
"It is clear that our rural communities can be impacted by this virus, just as our main centres can. We encourage you to go and get vaccinated so we can continue to enjoy the lifestyles and locations we have chosen for our whānau."
At the time of writing, the DHB recorded a total of 492,651 Covid vaccinations delivered in the Waikato, of which 285,488 were first doses and 207,163 second doses.
The town with the highest vaccination rate is Dunedin at the moment, with 69 per cent of the eligible population fully vaccinated. Hamilton climbed up to the seventh place with a vaccination rate of 62.7 per cent. The place with the lowest vaccination rate is Kawerau, with 40.4 per cent fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile, a total of 2980 tests were processed in Waikato on Tuesday. Testing sites in Te Rapa Hamilton, Kawhia, Karapiro, Tokoroa and Huntly are no longer operating as demand has reduced and can be met through general practices.
After a day of no new cases in the Waikato on Monday, there were a couple of new community cases reported during the week, bringing the total number of active cases in the region now to 37. Of those, 18 are in Raglan, 16 in Hamilton, 2 in Cambridge, and 1 in Kawhia.
Munro says she was especially impressed with the efforts of the Raglan community. "When we heard that Covid-19 had reached Raglan, the local community showed real community spirit and stepped up and volunteered to provide support by offering testing and vaccination locations along with volunteers for managing traffic at the Raglan Area School."
