The Ora Toa Covid-19 drive-through vaccination clinic in August focused on Porirua's Pacific population. Video / Mark Mitchell
More than 90 per cent of Wellington central's eligible population has now had at least one Covid-19 vaccination.
Assuming all second dose bookings go ahead in the next six weeks, the city will hit the all-important 90 per cent fully vaccinated target by November 17.
Wellington mayor Andy Foster toldNewstalk ZB's Nick Mills Wellington was on the right track.
He said the reality is Covid-19 is only a truck driver or one person away from getting into any community now.
"We can't go locking people down with something that's now going to be inevitable in the way it is. Vaccination is clearly the answer, it is becoming now a disease of the unvaccinated in terms of serious impact.
"So I would say to everybody 'get yourself safe' and so then we're ready to actually live with this thing because we're not going to be able to keep it out now."
Capital and Coast District Health Board confirmed the district was sitting at 91 per cent first dose vaccination on Sunday.
The Herald reported on the weekend that the district was approaching 90 per cent, with 88.8 per cent first dose vaccination coverage recorded last week.
The 90 per cent threshold has now been widely used as a benchmark for national vaccination coverage, with Health Minister Andrew Little saying last month level 4 lockdowns would be unlikely if the country reached this target.
A total of 161,741 people in Wellington have received at least their first dose, with 46 per cent fully vaccinated.
A CCDHB spokesperson said the Kāpiti Coast was sitting on 86 per cent with their first dose, and 56 per cent fully vaccinated - the first area in the Wellington Region to pass 50 per cent.
Overall the Greater Wellington Region is sitting at 84 per cent first dose and 46 per cent fully vaccinated.
Wellington is at the top of the charts for the districts with the highest first dose vaccination coverage, with only Queenstown recording a higher percentage. Queenstown had 89.9 per cent of its population with at least one dose on the weekend.
However, Central Wellington is firmly in the middle of the pack for full vaccination coverage. Sitting in spot 43 out of 66, the district has 44.5 per cent of its population fully vaccinated.
Leading this race is Kaikōura, with 57.5 per cent fully vaccinated, followed by Central Otago on 57.1.
Nationally, at the beginning of the week New Zealand sat at 79.4 per cent with at least one dose, and 48.9 per cent fully vaccinated.
The high number of first doses compared to second indicates there has been a surge in vaccination uptake in the capital over the past six weeks.
Capital and Coast and Hutt Valley DHB chief executive Fionnagh Dougan said their teams had administered almost 175,000 vaccinations during alert levels 3 and 4 – a period of three weeks.
CCDHB also said it was starting to see faster growth in the numbers of people fully vaccinated, reflecting the surge of first doses in levels 3 and 4 who were now coming up to their second jab.
A pop-up vaccination clinic at Parliament would be open tomorrow and Friday from 9am-2pm.
The Sky Stadium drive-through would also be back next weekend October 15-18 for both bookings and walk-ins.
