Weekend clinic signals start of Taranaki COVID-19 vaccination ramp up

5 July 2021

The first weekend clinic will be held in New Plymouth this Saturday and Sunday (July 10 and 11), as the region’s programme begins to ramp up the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out.

“Being able to hold more clinics, particularly outside working hours, is a major step in being able to increase the number of people receiving the COVID-19 vaccination in Taranaki,” says Rachel Court, Taranaki’s COVID-19 Vaccination programme operations lead.

“By the end of July we will be vaccinating more than 6,000 people a week across the region.”

The first GP clinic has also joined the programme, with another six already in the pipeline.

“Bringing those GP clinics who want to be part of the roll-out on-board is great for the programme because we can’t reach everyone ourselves,” says Court.

Carefirst, the largest GP clinic in Taranaki with 15,000 registered patients, has begun vaccinating their patients already. Jody Grigg, Carefirst’s COVID-19 co-ordinator says that they will be holding up to five clinics a week, once the vaccine supply increases.

Bookings for the weekend clinics, and those at Carefirst, will be managed by the national call centre Whakarongorau, and Book My Vaccine, the online booking service.

“The response from Taranaki people wishing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 has been so positive, it’s been wonderful,” says Court. “But unfortunately we cannot vaccinate everyone straight away, so we need everyone to be patient, and only call the 0800 28 29 26 national call centre if they are in Group 1 or Group 2, or if they have received a Group 3 invite.

“Please don’t call your local GP clinic asking to make an appointment. These can only be made online at Book My Vaccine, if you match the Group 1, 2 or 3 criteria, or by calling the national call centre.

“There will be enough vaccine for everyone to be immunised and, with the numbers ramping up, this means the entire population of Taranaki could theoretically be vaccinated by the end of the year.

 

Last updated: Friday, April 12, 2024