Christchurch worker: ‘I feel like a superhero’
About 40 border workers from Christchurch Airport were vaccinated yesterday as the Covid-19 immunisation programme started rolling out in the South Island.
Auckland workers were the first in the country to get the PfizerBioNTech injections on Saturday and the programme began in Wellington on Monday.
On Tuesday, 35 of the Canterburybased vaccination team gave and received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to prepare for yesterday’s rollout.
About 20 per cent of New Zealand’s border and MIQ workforce are based in Canterbury, according to the Ministry of Health.
Canterbury DHB clinician Alan Pithie said the rollout was an important milestone. “This is just the start of the vaccination rollout and we are confident that the system we have created is robust and efficient. We are really proud of our team, this is obviously a new situation for everyone, but it is incredibly important that we complete this first phase as quickly as possible.”
The Christchurch Airport workers, who included aviation security workers, cleaners, police, customs workers and health protection officers, took their first dose at a community-based testing centre.
Health protection officer Debbie Smith said she was relieved to get vaccinated.
“It’s another level of armour and I feel like a superhero on the inside now. Working on the frontline, you tend to live your life differently. There have been events I’ve thought twice about going to because of the potential risk I pose and that’s where the vaccination is going to let me live my life a little bit more normally, I hope.”
Her colleague Jimmy Wong said getting vaccinated was a huge relief because it meant greater protection for his family.
“I’ve got a 3-month-old baby at the moment and it’s very important to me to do what I can to protect myself and to protect my family.”
Both have been working at Christchurch International Airport for a year and one of their roles is health screening people returning on international flights.
Airport cleaner Cherry Alinsob — who works fulltime for OCS Ltd — said she was very keen to get vaccinated and pleased to get that opportunity.
“I’m happy so I can protect myself and my family.”
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said about 1000 border workers and vaccinators had received their first dose and numbers would gradually scale up.