"It's so heartening to me when I see these people sitting in our room and they've come in and they got vaccinated. That's because they've thought through all the issues."
Getting vaccinated was harder for some than others. Many people were vaccine hesitant because of what they read on social media, but in rare cases it was from their own experiences.
"I've got one lady who has a horrible disease - Gillian Barre disease - possibly as a result of a vaccination many, many, years ago.
"She's been told by medical people not to have another vaccination.
"I was so inspired by this lady because I saw her in our room doing the right thing and getting the Covid-19 vaccine.
"Those are the real heroes. Those people who have genuine fears that go ahead and still get vaccinated and I'm inspired by them."
Vaccination concerns ranged from the genuine to the bizarre, but most could be easily explained.
Dr Chris Jacques, a GP at Aramoho Health Centre, said main concerns were people not totally understanding what the vaccine was about, what it did and in particular how it was made so quickly but, yet the same time was safe.
"All the experts that I've spoken to have said the reason that it was done so quickly was not because it was rushed, but simply because internationally there was a lot of agreement about how to do it quickly," he said.
"A lot of the red tape that would normally be associated with this stuff was put aside just to make sure things got done really efficiently."
Misinformation online was a major reason people didn't get vaccinated. Jacques said doctors and scientists were not part of a worldwide conspiracy.
"We've got no reason to be. Scientists and doctors have nothing to gain from lying about this stuff.
"We've got no reason to make up stories. At the end of the day, we are just trying to do the best thing for our people that we look after."
Despite efforts to stop the Delta variant, it was likely to continue to cross the New Zealand border.
Vaccination would prevent more severe symptoms of the disease but the emerging message was, if enough were vaccinated it would mean more freedoms.
"One analogy that we really liked was around flying on aeroplanes. None of us understands how aeroplanes work and why they fly rather than crash," Jacques said.
"There is so much up on the Internet about vaccines and should-you-have-it or should-you-not-have-it but at the end of the day, in the same way that we trust engineers to make aeroplane safely, I trust scientists to make vaccines safely."
While Aramoho Health Centre wanted people to ask questions, it found most had made up their minds on arrival.
Practice nurse and vaccinator Anthony Tae said he encouraged questions but most said 'just go for it'.
But the one common question was: What is in the vaccine?
"When they ask that question I say it's an RNA vaccine, it's a component of RNA that will message your body to make antibodies towards the virus." Tae said.
Zimmerman said he was impressed with staff's extra work and effort.
"They know it's important and they've just fronted up and got it done and I'm really proud of them."
Vaccinations are free and all vaccination clinics in Whanganui have vacancies.
To book your vaccine go to bookmyvaccine.co.nz
