The DHBs administering jabs – or not

There are disparities in the district health boards’ level of preparedness for the Covid-19 vaccine rollout. The gaps between DHBs are particularly pronounced at the rate of trained vaccinators (per 1000 people).

As of May 17, Auckland Metro (Auckland, Counties Manukau, Waitemata¯) and the Wellington region DHBs (Capital & Coast and Hutt Valley) rank in the bottom half of the country. Both areas have less than one trained vaccinator per 1000. The same applies for Canterbury and Waikato.

Auckland Metro’s numbers are pulled down by the performance of Counties Manukau: It has one of the lowest trained-vaccinator rates in New Zealand, despite being prioritised during the rollout of vaccines to Group 2.

Whanganui, West Coast and Nelson Marlborough, which are small to mediumsized DHBs, top the list. They have around an extra vaccinator per 1000 over the DHBs/ areas mentioned above. But the Southern DHB also ranks pretty well.

All but one DHB had an active-to-trained vaccinators ratio of between 35 and 45 per cent during the week of May 17. The outlier was Whanganui, where only 19 per cent of the trained workforce was active that week.

Counties Manukau had 54 per cent of the workforce active while having one of the lowest rates of trained vaccinators.

The Ministry of Health said DHBs had different vaccinator workforce needs due to factors such as geography and population.

A spokesperson said the rollout ‘‘continues to scale up well’’. It was ahead of target, and more than 500,000 doses had been administered as of Thursday night.