Team of vaccinators growing

The Midcentral Health district is ahead of target for the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine.

So far the district health board’s vaccinators have put 1657 shots in arms, ahead of its target of 1200 by the beginning of this week.

The number of people vaccinated in the district is higher, with more than 6000 having received at least their first dose, because of priority given to border workers, mainly from Linton, and their close contacts.

Primary, public and community health operations executive Deborah Davies said a team of 23 registered nurses and 12 administrators had been recruited to the vaccination team.

‘‘There are significant training requirements for vaccinators and administrators, and recruiting and training a large additional workforce is an ongoing activity and challenge.’’

So far 16 sites had been identified where vaccinations would be given.

That included eight GP practices, five community sites, and three iwi/ma¯ori locations.

Pharmacists had been invited to join the vaccination team, with eight interested so far, but community pharmacies were unlikely to provide bases for the immunisation programme.

Davies said the board had also been granted approval to buy amobile clinic that could be moved around the district.

Its first use would be in supporting Covid19 testing, contact tracing and vaccinations, taking services into communities. In future it would be used for taking prevention and intervention services to communities that often missed out, with an emphasis on Ma¯ori, Pasifika, elderly and refugee populations in Horowhenua and taki. ¯O

The focus of vaccination at the moment includes elderly Ma¯ori and health workers, and people in long-term care, with aged care workers in line from May 3.

The next group included residents in 30 aged care facilities around the district.

Meantime, GP teams have been asked to focus on getting as many as possible of their over-65 patients immunised against influenza, a jab which has to be given two weeks before the first Covid-19 vaccination, or two weeks after the second.

Davies said vaccination teams would be ramping up their efforts in the coming weeks to reach a target of having 39,000 of the district’s 145,000 over-16-year-olds vaccinated by the end of June.

To reach that target, about half of the 50,800 people in tier three, those over 65 years, people with disabilities, pregnant women, and people with health conditions that could make them very sick if they contracted Covid-19, would have to be reached.

For under-65s with no underlying health conditions, vaccination is expected to be offered from August.