Hawke's Bay District Health Board acknowledged there had been a few "teething issues", like Janine Gordon being turned away, but things were now back on track. Photo / Warren Buckland
Hawke's Bay District Health Board acknowledged there had been a few "teething issues", like Janine Gordon being turned away, but things were now back on track. Photo / Warren Buckland
A Hawke's Bay health worker turned away from her second Covid-19 jab despite having an appointment says the region's vaccine rollout has looked unorganised.
The Hawke's Bay District Health Board has acknowledged there have been a few "teething issues" with the rollout, but it is running ahead of schedule.
Napierwoman Janine Gordon received her first Covid-19 vaccine in late May - she works at a specialist dentist practice and therefore falls under group 2.
She made an appointment to go back on June 18, but was turned away despite having received the text reminders one week and one day before.
"They said I couldn't have it because my name wasn't on the list.
"I wasn't the first person that day this happened to and I wouldn't be the only one."
Hawke's Bay DHB has administered 37,306 of a planned 31,717 Covid-19 vaccinations - putting it ahead of schedule. Photo / NZME
The DHB's programme lead for the vaccine rollout, Chris McKenna, said it was aware of a small number of people who arrived to clinics with booking cards who had not been transferred to the new system.
The DHB is transitioning from its own booking system to the new National Booking System in preparation for the wider rollout to group 4, with all new appointments being logged on this system.
She said these "teething issues" had since been resolved and those people had been rebooked for the same day, the day after or at a convenient time for them.
Gordon, who manages appointments as part of her career, is now booked in for her next jab on July 16, but says the system at the present time lacks a "commonsense" approach.
Gordon said she was also frustrated by the number of people who walked in without appointments at her first vaccination.
McKenna said the DHB was not allowing walk-ins at clinics to ensure vaccine supplies were well managed and people with booked appointments did not wait for longer than necessary.
She said the team was working hard to ensure a seamless vaccination rollout across the region.
Site leaders based at the clinics had been recruited to help them run as smoothly as possible.
Overall, the DHB was pleased with the progress of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, with the Hawke's Bay region running slightly ahead of planned numbers at 117 per cent.
As of June 20, 37,306 of a planned 31,717 vaccinations had been administered by the Hawke's Bay DHB - putting it ahead of schedule.
Of these, 25,677 related to first-dose vaccinations, and 13,359 second-dose vaccinations.
In the past week alone, 1259 vaccinations were carried out.
McKenna said all DHBs had an agreed plan with the Ministry of Health to manage vaccine supply in the country.
More information can be found online at health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-data-and-statistics/covid-19-vaccine-data
