Covid-19 coronavirus Delta outbreak: Waipā's vaccine rate picking up, but we can do better

This article has been updated to report new statistics released by the Waikato District Health Board, initially the DHB accidentally sent through another districts statistics.

More and more Waipā residents are getting out to get vaccinated against the Covid-19 coronavirus, but there's still room for improvement.

The Government's message to New Zealanders is to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

Last week NZME and the NZ Herald launched The 90% Project in an effort to get more kiwis vaccinated by Christmas.

It is vital to achieve a high vaccination rate with the establishment of the Delta variant.

The Waikato District Health Board has reported that 37.4 per cent of eligible Waipā residents are fully vaccinated which only just surpassed that Waikato region average of 36 percent.

A month ago, only 16.9 per cent of the Waipā population were fully vaccinated.

It is believed these percentages could be even higher as some Waipā residents may have chosen to be vaccinated outside the region, therefore they aren't included in the local statistics.

"The true per cent of people vaccinated in each district will be slightly higher," says a Waikato DHB spokesperson.

In the district, 67.5 per cent have also received their first dose of the vaccine.

Te Awamutu Medical Centre general manager Wayne Lim says each day their vaccine bookings have been full and they are also seeing some cancellations.

"Now that there are more vaccination sites available, and since the Government has been encouraging Kiwis to get vaccinated as soon as possible, we have had a few advance bookings cancelled because people have been able to get vaccinated elsewhere, sooner," says Wayne.

Gemma Perry, owner of Sanders pharmacy, says she hired nine extra staff members to meet the demand for vaccines and all her staff, who underwent specific training to become Covid-19 vaccine administrators, have been working extra shifts and overtime.

"Our entire pharmacy team is behind the programme, and all felt it was really important to be able to offer a convenient, professional and friendly service to see as many of our community vaccinated," says Gemma.

The Waikato DHB statistics also show only 17.5 per cent of Māori in the Waipā district are fully vaccinated, and 35.4 per cent have had one dose.

Statistics New Zealand's 2018 Census data relating to the population of Waipā states the district is home to 7953, which, coupled with the Waikato DHB statistics, suggests fewer than 1400 have been fully vaccinated.

Nationwide, fewer Māori than any other group have been vaccinated and Māori health providers and institutions are putting initiatives in place to close this gap.

It is believed Te Wānanga o Aotearoa in Te Awamutu will be hosting such an initiative soon.

From observation by both Wayne and Gemma, it appears there is a lack of young people (under 20) getting vaccinated.

Both of them reported they aren't really seeing young people come through, and they would look like to see numbers go up.

"We hope that the message will get through and we will start to see some more young people," says Wayne.