November 17 2021
People will be able to travel to or from Auckland from December 15 if they have received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine or have returned a negative test. There are 194 cases of Covid-19 in the community today and a further person has died with the virus.
The winner of the Herald's Top Towns and the first place to reach 90 per cent full Covid-19 vaccination in the country has been announced.
Ministry of Health data shows as of Wednesday, 90.4 per cent of residents in the Queenstown-Lakes District are fully vaccinated.
The district has a populationof 35,862 and 32,409 have now had two doses.
Queenstown-Lakes just nudged past Wellington to reach the achievement first. The capital currently has a full vaccination rate of 89.3 per cent.
It is closely followed by the Selwyn District on 89.2 per cent, Dunedin on 87.5 per cent and Auckland on 85.8 per cent.
A special poster commemorating the winner of the Top Towns competition will be published in Thursday's Herald. Designed by cartoonist Rod Emmerson, a framed print of the artwork will be sent to the mayor of Queenstown.
Mayor Jim Boult told the Herald he was very pleased they had taken out the top spot.
"I'm going to say I'm not surprised because we've been leading the country in the vaccination rate, if you want to call it that.
"We were pretty confident but we have put a lot of work in on it. A lot of organisations throughout the community have been involved, I've even been handing out sausages to people who get vaccinated," he said.
He said they have set a target at the council for a 95 per cent full vaccination rate by Christmas.
"We are well on our way to that."
Boult said he thinks the high vaccination rate is because the district is heavily reliant on tourism.
"We are a town that relies on visitors so when Auckland opens up again, we are gonna get folk from up north visiting us so I think the community has thought the best thing we can do to protect ourselves is to get vaccinated."
He said it is also because they have a very engaged community.
"They are very keen to look after themselves and their neighbours and whānau, right across the district they've really adopted it as something they just want to do," he said.
Queenstown-Lakes has won the Herald's top towns and is the first place to reach 90 per cent full Covid-19 vaccination in the country. Photo / Michael Craig
Boult said he wants to thank everyone in the community who has been vaccinated especially those who were reluctant.
"Well done to them and for those few who haven't, please join us, please look after yourself and please look after the community."
The Herald has been regularly publishing the proportion of people partially and fully vaccinated across all 66 New Zealand territorial authorities since the start of October.
