First doses in the Counties Manukau DHB ticked over to 90 percent yesterday - joining the other two Auckland DHBs.
Photo: RNZ / Simon Rogers
If all return for their second jab, in three weeks Auckland could move to the new traffic light system and the freedoms that come with it, just in time for the Prime Minister's planned check-in on the cities vaccine rates.
But getting Counties Manukau DHB to 90 percent first doses had not been easy.
Manurewa Papakura ward Councillor Daniel Newman has being going door to door getting people on board.
The first jab was just the first hurdle, he said.
"We've got nearly 10 percent of our population have got a first jab, but are yet to get the second dose. That is nearly 50,000 people in Counties Manukau. That is a huge challenge. We've got a long, long way to go."
He would be back knocking on doors to make sure people return for the second.
"We're having to being on the same doors several times over and that will continue for as long as it takes to get people to the point where we have good protection against Covid-19."
Newman told Checkpoint more vaccine events were needed.
That was echoed by the CEO of South Seas healthcare Lemalu Silao Vaisola-Sefo, who said it would be more work for their South Auckland community to reach the 90 percent double dose target.
"It's getting harder to you know, just to put up a pop up in and for people to expect people to come through. So we reached out to our church ministers and co-ordinators from churches, and they just they organise their own people so they reach out to their groups, youth and you know, make it a bit more of a competition amongst churches in sports clubs."
That worked in the past with drive through events like Rally Your Village giving out over 7000 vaccines over five days in October.
Lemalu said it was important to make it less about the vaccine and provide incentives for people to come through.
But he was less worried about the general population in Auckland reaching 90 percent double dosed and more worried about pasifika rates which are sitting at around 72 percent fully vaccinated.
"We are slowly moving up in the right direction in terms of Pasifika, it's just it's gonna require a wee bit more work to be honest. Our priority is we're not gonna stop at 90 percent so we're gonna have to keep going. I guess the thing that's not on our side is time."
In Waitematā - 92 percent of people have had the first dose, whilst 83 percent have had their second.
Te Whānau o Waipareira Trust has delivered more than 120,000 vaccinations since the roll out began in April.
CEO John Tamihere said mixed messages about when second doses should be has caused confusion.
"People then started reading into it, the longer you wait for your second jab, the better. They're taking their time because they don't believe that the second one needs to be taken you know, when times up."
He told Checkpoint it was often a guessing game working out who was coming back - making it difficult for providers juggling appointments and preparing vaccines.
There needed to be more effort to make it clear anyone who had reached three weeks since their first dose should not delay their second, he said.
But he was confident if they could get to 90 percent first doses, they would get to 90 percent fully vaccinated.
There is now a three week wait to find out if Auckland is moving to the traffic light system - with Cabinet set to check in on the settings on the 29 November just as all those recently jabbed should be getting their second.
