‘Battle’ to get jab for man with stage 4 cancer

Unclear guidance around Covid19 vaccination has seen a South Auckland man with stage 4 cancer waiting months to hear when he can get jabbed.

Graeme Stanton, 64, has incurable prostate cancer and lives in Pokeno, in the Counties Manukau District Health Board area. His postcode and condition put him in group 2 of the Government’s vaccine schedule, which started in February.

Group 2 covers high-risk frontline workers and people living in high-risk places, including those in Counties Manukau who are at higher risk because they are 65 and older, disabled, pregnant or have a relevant underlying health condition.

But as of early May, Stanton had received no information about when he could get the vaccine. After probing from Stuff this week, Stanton received his first dose yesterday.

Group 2 covers about 480,000 people. People in Counties Manukau DHB at higher risk were prioritised if they were in ‘‘one or more’’ of the following: 65 and over, disabled, pregnant or with an underlying health condition, according to the Ministry of Health website.

But Stanton, who is actively undergoing treatment which compromises his immune system, said it has been a ‘‘battle’’ to get information about being vaccinated. When he contacted the vaccination helpline on April 12 – well into the group 2 vaccination roll-out – he was advised they were only taking bookings for border workers.

Healthline advised his GP must initiate the conversation but the practice said it had no idea how to do this as it had not received any information from the DHB. Stanton and wife Shirley also phoned the DHB and a Ministry of Health number to no avail.

A Northern Region Health Coordination Centre spokeswoman said it was trying to make it ‘‘as easy as possible’’ for people to be vaccinated at the appropriate time, ‘‘so we are sorry to hear this gentleman has had some challenges with the system’’.

The co-ordination centre – which arranged for Stanton to be vaccinated – is currently vaccinating people in group 2, starting with older Ma¯ori and Pacific people in the northern region and everyone over the age of 65 in South Auckland.

‘‘We will then move on to those with underlying health conditions and will be working closely with GPS on this.’’

The Ministry of Health did not directly answer questions on whether it is satisfied with the vaccination coverage among atrisk people in the CMDHB area, nor whether it deemed it acceptable that some priority groups had struggled to access vaccines.

A spokesperson said different DHBS were at different stages of the programme. ‘‘Everyone in New Zealand will be offered the vaccine. There will be enough vaccine for the entire population to be vaccinated and no-one will miss out.’’

Meanwhile, it remains unclear when people with wider health conditions and disabilities can get vaccinated – set to roll out to group 3 from May.

The widow of a man who died along with his colleague in a suspected fall on Taranaki Maunga says he was a ‘‘skilled and experienced’’ tramper and mountaineer who recently became a father.

Richard Phillips and Peter Kirkwood, 33, died shortly after reaching the summit on Tuesday night. Their bodies were recovered from the mountain about 8am yesterday.

The pair, who lived in Christchurch and were employed by environmental and engineering consultancy company Tonkin and Taylor, had travelled to Taranaki