The 90% Project: The Hits' Mike Puru on why getting the Covid vaccine is important

For television and radio host Mike Puru, getting vaccinated against Covid 19 was a simple thing to do to protect his own health and the lives of others.

"It just seems like an easy thing for someone like me to do. I'm eligible, I'm Māori as well - I want to help get those figures up - and I want to show other people if there are reasons you can't get the vaccine that's fine but if I can do my bit I'll do it.

"I'm not doing it for my health in all honesty, I'm doing it to help get the country moving, to help protect others lives. It just seems like such a simple thing to do."

Puru, co-host of The Hits drive show, is among the Kiwis getting behind The 90% Project being run by the Herald in an effort to get 90 per cent of eligible New Zealanders vaccinated by Christmas.

"Let's get to 90 per cent. Let's have a summer. I want to go to a music festival - even though I'm getting a bit old. We all want to get out there and celebrate New Year's and have a summer. It's not a big ask."

It was also about getting back to life as normal, he said.

"I want a haircut. I want to go and see my family in the South Island, I want to go to live shows and to sports and I want to go to a restaurant. I just want to live life. It's a bit boring when you don't have those things going on in all honesty."

Puru said getting the injections was a quick and easy experience and joked that all the checking in was "like going through airport security".

"It's seriously an easy way to be a part of something that's going to help everybody move forward and also save lives," he said.

"I've had circumstances where I've had friends who haven't been able to go and visit dying parents and that's been heart-breaking to watch. The more people that are vaccinated the less those situations occur."

If lockdown had taught him anything, it was that Kiwis were "goers" who liked to get out and do things, Puru said. But vaccination was key to being able to do that again.

"When we don't have that going on I think it plays a huge part in people's mental wellbeing. If me getting a jab helps, that's such an easy thing to be a part of and get the country back on its feet," he said.

"You feel good when you've done your bit."

His plea for those not yet vaccinated: "Please go out and get it done".

"If those two jabs help people's wellbeing and help the country's economy and help us all live our lives then that is two shots in the arm worth taking in a heartbeat."