Rosewood residents offered jab

Vaccinations are under way at the rest home that suffered New Zealand’s greatest Covid-19 toll as the vaccine roll-out starts to reach Canterbury’s 5300 aged-care residents.

Christchurch’s Rosewood Rest Home and Hospital was one of several Covid-19 clusters in New Zealand. Twelve of the 22 Covid-19 deaths recorded nationwide were linked to the Rosewood cluster.

Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) executive lead Covid-19 response Ralph La Salle said vaccines were now being rolled out to Cantabrians in group 2 – deemed to be at higher risk from Covid-19.

A team of vaccinators offered the vaccine to about 90 residents and staff at Rosewood in Linwood yesterday.

About 5300 aged-care residents would be vaccinated in Canterbury in total.

Rosewood manager Di Topschij said the virus had ‘‘such an impact on our little community’’ and it was ‘‘quite special’’ to see the residents being vaccinated now. ‘‘These vaccinations mean a lot to the team here when we reflect on the personal toll of losing some of our beloved community to the virus last year.’’

Twenty residents from Rosewood were temporarily moved to Burwood Hospital in April 2020 as Covid-19 spread through the facility.

The CDBH later found the rest home had breached its age-related residential care services agreement several times. The breaches related to food, cleaning and laundry services; human resources obligations and the provision of sufficient staff; and emergency provision of personal supplies.

The DHB appointed a temporary manager to the facility on April 6 because ‘‘urgent action’’ was required to protect the health and safety of its residents, then-CDHB funding and planning manager Carolyn Gullery said.