'No worries': First Covid vaccine given in Hawke's Bay

Public Health Nurse And Covid educator Linda St George becomes the first person in Hawke's Bay to get the Covid-19 vaccine. Video / Supplied

The first Covid vaccinations in Hawke's Bay have been given to frontline nurses, with border worker vaccination commencing this week.

Public Health nurse and Covid-19 educator Linda St George was on Friday first in line of a group of primary care and Hawke's Bay public health workers to have the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

She said she was excited to be one of the first people in the country to have the vaccine.

"It's great to be part of this. I have no worries about the vaccine's safety – there has been a huge amount of research and millions of people all around the world have had it," St George said.

Linda St George receiving the Covid-19 vaccine last week from immunisation coordinator Fiona Jackson. Photo / Supplied

"I'm really looking forward to the day when most of New Zealand is vaccinated and we are impenetrable to this virus and can get on with our lives, travel again and open our borders."

The Hawke's Bay District Health Board's Covid vaccine operational lead Ngaira Harker said this was the first step in the rollout of the vaccine in Hawke's Bay:

"Over the coming weeks we will be vaccinating our border workers and their families, then frontline healthcare workers and vulnerable people before the rollout to the wider population."

Harker said border workers should be congratulated and applauded for the job they do every day protecting our borders.

"The vaccine is another added layer to our protective armour".