16 August 2021

Among the first to arrive for a vaccination was Nina Webb, second on left, who was greeted by the DHB team of Mhairi Pullins, Naomi Patterson, Folototo Skelton and Mel Fore.

A week-long COVID-19 vaccination clinic got under way on Monday 16 August with the focus very much on the Pasifika community.

The Cook Islands Community Hall on Gonville’s Puriri Street is Whanganui’s latest vaccination hub. The clinic will run all week from 10am to 5pm and it is accepting those who just walk in.

An extensive campaign to encourage participation has been run in the Pasifika community, supported by the Cook Islands Christian Church and the River City Fijian Assembly of God Church which share premises on the same site as the community hall.

“There has been a big national push for Pacific people to get vaccinated and we are taking the vaccine rollout to the community,” said Nga Apai, chair of the Cook Islands Community Group.

“We encourage all our people to come to the clinic.”

He said the community hall was the perfect setting, having just been extensively renovated, along with the churches, after receiving government funding. An official opening celebration was held last week.

To book an appointment at the clinic, people should phone 0800 28 29 26 or go online to BookMyVaccine.nz, but otherwise they can just turn up.

The Whanganui rollout had a record week last week as 4167 doses of the Pfizer vaccine were put into arms, and a total of 35,215 doses had been delivered as at Monday morning.