Covid-19: Tararua reaches 90 per cent first dose target

Mayor Tracey Collis is pleased the district has reached the goal of 90 per cent for the first dose of the Covid vaccine. Photo / NZME

Tararua District mayor Tracey Collis is rapt that the district has reached the goal of 90 per cent vaccination.

Last week MidCentral District Health Board posted the "At a Glance" statistics on social media and the district was at 91 per cent for the first dose of the vaccination.

The number for those who have had their second dose is not that far off either, at 81 per cent.

"The gap between the first dose and the second is not big. To have reached that mark took a mammoth effort," Collis said.

She believed the news that Covid was in the community had a lot to do with getting the numbers up.

Mid-November, the Ministry of Health advised there were two Covid cases in Woodville.

Last week, another case was found in Pahiatua.

There were no new cases advised for the district, although there was one case in the Manawatu announced last week, taking the region's total to six, with three recovered.

Tararua Health Group, along with local iwi and MidCentral DHB had ramped up availability of Covid testing and vaccines. Photo / NZME

Collis said the Tararua health group, iwi and MidCentral had ramped up the availability of both testing and vaccination opportunities.

"People did take advantage of that, and I think that is what got us over the 90."

Early last month, she had been concerned that the district was well behind others in the MidCentral region, and progress was slow.

"We were inching up."

Now she is hoping to get the numbers as high as possible.