The Covid-19 vaccine roll-out is the light at the end of the tunnel for South Seas Healthcare Trust after a turbulent year impacted by the pandemic.
South Seas Healthcare Trust chief executive Silao Vaisola-Sefo. Photo: Stuff
The Pacific health provider's staff are helping to run a new vaccination centre in Ōtara at the old Manukau Institute of Technology campus, which was officially opened on Thursday.
The South Seas Healthcare Trust's team was on the frontline of the country's battle against the pandemic and helped establish a pop-up Covid-19 testing clinic in the town centre last year. Chief executive Silao Vaisola- Sefo said it was hard to believe how far they'd come.
"This time last year we were in an alert level 4 lockdown and we weren't even talking about a vaccine," he said. "We were just trying to get as many people tested as we could."
Vaisola-Sefo said the pop-up clinic in Ōtara carried out 10,000 Covid-19 tests over a 17-week period.
"So this is quite exciting for us. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel and especially for our staff who were on the frontline."
The northern regional DHBs are funding the new vaccination centre.
While South Seas Healthcare will run the clinic in partnership with staff from Fono Medical, Health Star Pacific Community Health, the Tongan Health Society, Southpoint Family Doctors, Mount Wellington Medical Centre and Bader Drive Doctors.
Vaisola-Sefo said they were still currently vaccinating the frontline health and border workers and their families.
"We will then roll-it out for the general population and we're expecting to be vaccinating up to 500 people a day."
Meg Poutasi is the Pacific incident controller for the Northern Regional Health Coordination Centre (NRHCC), which represents the Northland and Auckland DHBs, and is in charge of the roll-out.
She said it had been great that the healthcare providers in south Auckland had worked together to provide the workforce for the vaccine centre.
"This is a seven-day operation so that collective approach had been really beneficial for us."
Poutasi said the next phase of the Counties Manukau vaccine roll-out, which was already underway, was targeting people over 65 and those with pre-existing medical conditions that put them at risk.
She said people can either be referred for a test by their GP or by calling 0800 2VAX to book an appointment.
Auckland Manukau ward councillor Efeso Collins said he was pleased to hear the team from South Seas Healthcare was involved in the vaccine roll-out. He said its staff were well known in the area and it was trusted by the community.
A pop-up Covid-19 testing clinic in Ōtara carried out 10,000 Covid-19 tests over a 17-week period last year. Photo: Stuff
"Their proactive service providing information and leading a Covid testing site since last year has been outstanding," Collins said.
Figures released by the Ministry of Health on Wednesday showed people in Counties Manukau have received 35,500 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.
That equates to 39 per cent of all doses administered since New Zealand's vaccination programme began in earnest in mid-February.
That was driven by the fact south Auckland is home to the Auckland International Airport and many of the country's managed isolation and border workers.
According to the ministry 71,000 people nationwide have so far received the first dose of the vaccine and 17,500 of those people have also received their second dose.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said that all district health boards around the country were now operating vaccination clinics and as a result the number of people being vaccinated would increase substantially over the coming weeks.
Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by RNZ, the News Publishers' Association and NZ On Air.
