Lakes District Health Board Covid-19 immunisation hub has plenty of capacity

Putiputi Martin receiving one of the first Covid-19 vaccines in Rotorua. Photo / Supplied

Lakes District Health Board is making progress with Covid-19 immunisations but has the capacity to immunise more people.

If you are in Group 2 and have not already been booked for a vaccine, or in Group 3, contact the DHB and make an appointment. Group 3 includes any people who are over 65, or people who have a relevant chronic medical condition.

The Covid vaccination programme started late in February with border workers in the three managed isolation facilities in Rotorua and their close family contacts now having had their two doses.

Covid-19 vaccination groups. Photo / NZ Covid-19 website

In March, Lakes DHB started vaccinating Group 2 people – frontline healthcare workers potentially exposed to Covid-19 while providing care, frontline healthcare workers who may expose more vulnerable people to Covid-19, and at-risk people living in settings with a high risk of transmission or exposure to Covid-19.

Most people in Group 2 have now been contacted, booked in, or received their first and/or second dose.

Chief operating officer Alan Wilson said the programme was going well with most people keen to get vaccinated as soon as they were eligible.

The Lakes DHB Covid-19 Immunisation Programme has set up a call centre (0800 115 117) to make or change bookings.

"Our call centre staff are keen to hear from any Group 2 organisations or individuals who have not been contacted and booked in already, or any staff in those organisations who cannot remember the date or time of their vaccine," Wilson said.

"We have plenty of capacity and would really like to hear from those people."

In Rotorua, the Lakes Covid immunisation hub is located in the Central Mall and has been operating since mid-March.

People in Group 2 in Taupō are being vaccinated in Taupō Hospital but from mid-May vaccination activities will move to a Covid-19 immunisation hub in Totara St.

"This immunisation programme is the largest ever undertaken in New Zealand," Wilson said.

"From late May we will be expanding our service and our hubs will be open seven days a week in Rotorua and Tuesday to Saturday in Taupō, with some evening sessions to make it easier for people working long hours to get immunised."

The vaccine being used in New Zealand is the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. The vaccine is safe, effective and free.

The Pfizer vaccine is a two-dose programme and when people get their first dose, staff also book them in for their second dose.

People are sent a text reminder the day before their second dose. If anyone can't make it they are asked to contact the call centre 0800 115 117 and re-schedule their vaccine.

Residents and staff in aged residential care and supported facilities will commence vaccinations in May.

The Ministry of Health has a four-tier system that prioritises people who are most at risk as Group 1, down to the general (lower risk) population in Group 4.

To make a booking email; covid.imms@lakesdhb.govt.nz or ring the administration call centre on 0800 115 117.

Please provide staff with your name, contact phone and email and National Health Index (NHI) number, if known.

For more information go to the Government's Covid-19 vaccinations website. https://covid19.govt.nz/health-and-wellbeing/covid-19-vaccines/