Hutt Valley District Health Board
Capital & Coast District Health Board 30 March 2021 |
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Kia ora koutou katoa
Welcome to the latest pānui for the Hutt Valley and Capital & Coast DHB COVID-19 vaccination programme. We will be providing regular updates on our mahi throughout the wider region.
ContentsCOVID-19 vaccines will play a critical role in protecting New Zealanders’ health and wellbeing. They’re free, safe and effective, and everyone in Aotearoa is eligible.
A top priority this year is to make sure everyone in New Zealand aged 16 years and over will get free, fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.
By working together, we can help to keep ourselves, friends and whānau safe.
Mauri Ora. |
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Ma tini, ma mano, ka rapa te whai
- By joining together we will succeed |
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Community Vaccination Centres open 
Te Awakairangi Health Network Covid-19 vaccine administrators, from left, Nicole and Amanda welcome people to a vaccination centre in Taita on March 24. Since March 21, the Walter Nash Centre stadium in Taita has been turned into a temporary vaccination centre before the rollout moves to Upper Hutt.
It marked the next phase of the national COVID-19 vaccination rollout – the vaccination of border workers’ household contacts, and of frontline health workers – with five Community Vaccination Centres (CVCs) now in operation in the Hutt Valley and Wellington regions.
Operated by Te Awakairangi Health Network PHO, on behalf of the Hutt Valley and Capital & Coast DHBs, the CVC in Lower Hutt was the first to begin providing vaccinations
“We are pleased to be starting the next phase towards protecting our communities from COVID-19 – making sure that the frontline health workers have their COVID-19 vaccinations so they can continue to do their awesome work, caring for all of us,” said Te Awakairangi Health Network Chief Executive Bridget Allan. Community nurse Trish Kerr receives a vaccination from Laraine Koerbin in Taita on March 24. Community nurse and COVID-19 vaccinator Trish Kerr said she wanted to get the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to protect her family, the community she lives in and the vulnerable patients she cares for.
“I just wanted to make sure that I am safe for them to be safe and that was really important to me. We’re part of history. We’re making sure that we look after ourselves to be able to look after the community,” she said.
See coverage on the 1 News website, Stuff.co.nz or the Radio NZ website. |
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Partnerships for vaccination
Te Awakairangi Health Network Covid-19 vaccinators, from left, Catriona Le and Hannah Wheeler.
Vaccinating the Hutt Valley and Capital & Coast regions will be one of the largest health efforts ever undertaken. In order to do this effectively, strong partnerships with providers and our communities are needed.
The DHBs are working closely with our PHOs and Māori and Pacific providers to ensure those who are eligible for the vaccine can receive it in their communities and close to their homes.
“CVCs and our wider vaccination programme are only possible through effective partnerships with our providers,” said HVDHB and CCDHB Chief Executive Fionnagh Dougan.
CVCs across the wider regions will administer vaccinations throughout all phases of the rollout, and additional CVCs will be opened later in the year. |
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Applying the disability lens
Our 3DHB Disability Team focuses on highlighting access and functional needs of disabled people. This includes ensuring all of our communications are accessible for all communities, and the team has made great progress in this area recently.
The big difference between the COVID-19 vaccination programme and the lockdown of one year ago is that this time we aren’t just putting information out – we also need to interact with one another. Sadly, disabled people often have negative experiences when accessing healthcare services so we want the COVID-19 vaccination experience to be a positive one.
This means we need to think about applying reasonable accommodations. For Deaf people, going to a vaccination centre will mean interacting with a lot of people wearing masks which prevents lip-reading and understanding people. Applying reasonable accommodation means working out what alternate communication strategies we will use instead. This could be to ensure NZSL interpreters are present, or it could mean using paper and pen or a phone/computer to communicate. Each deaf person may have different needs so vaccination centres need to be able to make a variety of accommodations.
The 3DHB Disability Team is working to provide resources and guidelines to ensure CVCs can confidently accommodate the needs of disabled people coming in for vaccinations. We are communicating closely with the Ministry of Health, and with Needs Assessment Service Coordination agencies and Disability Support Services to ensure that disabled people are not forgotten.
It is our intent to apply the disability lens in four key areas:
• Ensuring the workforce is representative and responsive.
• Vaccination delivery is accessible with the application of reasonable accommodations.
• Clear and complete communications, including the use of alternate formats.
• Data is collected, analysed and used to improve processes.
We are currently developing a pack of resources, guidance, information and tools to enable you to meet the needs of disabled people while also building disability awareness and confidence in the workforce. |
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National vaccine timelineThe Ministry of Health's vaccination rollout plan defines four groups for vaccinations:
Group 1 (February - March 2021)
55,000 border and Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) workers, and their household contacts.
Group 2 (March - May 2021)
About 480,000 frontline healthcare workers and people living in high-risk settings, which include long-term residential care.
Older people living in a whānau-environment and those they live with. An initial allocation of 40,000 courses will be provided to Māori and Pacific providers to support this group.
Anyone living in the Counties-Manukau DHB area who is 65 years and older or who has an underlying health condition. This recognises the risk posed by the many border operations and MIQ facilities in this region.
Group 3 (May 2021 onward)
Priority populations: People over 65 years or people with underlying health conditions or disabilities who are at higher risk of severe outcomes if they catch COVID-19 (approximately 1.7 million people).
Relevant health conditions to get access to the vaccine in Group 3 include coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease/chronic respiratory conditions, kidney disease, and cancer. Despite not being a health condition, pregnancy is also included in the eligibility criteria.
Group 4 (July 2021 onward)
The remainder of the target population - everyone over 16 years old. (about two million people). Two new categories - national significance and compassionate reasons - are also being created for those who may be outside the schedule. These will have strict criteria and are for people who need to travel overseas to represent New Zealand or for other reasons such as visiting a dying relative. |
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 | | Hear from Olivia, one of our DHB infectious disease experts, on why getting vaccinated is the best way to look after ourselves, our colleagues and our patients. |
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 | | DHB infection doctor Tim Blakemore explains how the COVID-19 vaccine works. |
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Nau mai, haere mai - join the team, we are recruiting
A representative and responsive workforce
We want all of our communities to see themselves represented in the COVID-19 vaccination workforce in order to build confidence that we are all valued, and that people within the workforce understand the different lived-experiences of our communities. We encourage Māori, Pacific and disabled people to apply for the roles available to build capacity and capability in our workforce and our communities.
Recently, we launched an e-learning module Disability Equity for DHB staff to build their ability to support our disabled communities.We have a variety of paid full-time, fixed-term, temporary and casual roles available (both clinical and non-clinical) supporting the vaccination roll-out at sites across Kāpiti, Porirua, Hutt Valley and Wellington. We welcome you to join us in protecting our friends, whānau and our wider communities against COVID-19.
Current available positions: We are looking for vaccination stars who want to contribute to the biggest vaccination programme ever in the Greater Wellington Region. If you are resilient, love a challenge and are available to start soon, please click the link below for further details. We are also looking for experienced administrators to support our vaccinators by recording information and inputting data into our tracking system. If you are resilient, love a challenge and are available to start soon, please click the link below for further details. |
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Making sure COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective
Before any vaccine is approved for use in New Zealand, it must meet international standards and local requirements for quality, safety and efficacy.
Detailed information on the approval process.
New Zealand has secured enough Pfizer vaccine to immunise everyone over the age of 16. The Government also has Advance Purchase Agreements with three other pharmaceutical suppliers.
Different vaccines allow for the possibility that some may be more suited to different population groups or areas. |
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Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine
The Pfizer vaccine is currently the only vaccine approved for use in New Zealand. This vaccine has been shown to be 95 per cent effective against symptomatic COVID-19, seven days after a person’s second dose.
It is approved for people 16 years or older. Those under the age of 16 are currently not included in the vaccination programme. Limited data is available for this age group because they were not part of clinical trials for the vaccine.
Two doses of the vaccine are needed, with at least 21 days between each dose. It’s very important to get the second dose to provide the best protection against catching the virus.
Resources on how this vaccine works, its efficacy, possible side effects and more. |
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