The head of the Counties-Manukau District Health Board (DHB) is urging Pacific people to continue to take advantage of opportunities to get vaccinated.
Counties-Manukau DHB has the largest population of Pacific people in the country, and has the largest cluster in this August community outbreak of the Covid-19 Delta Variant.
But DHB Chief Executive Officer Fepulea’i Margie Apa has nothing but praise for the way Pacific people – and the local health sector – have mobilised at this time.
“Real super, super thanks to our people on the testing front… We’ve been doing over 20,000 on average tests a day since the 18th of August, and if you remember the last outbreak we had in August, our top day was just under 16,000, then it reduced quite quickly,” Fepulea’i says.
“This has been a sustained campaign of testing. We’re really particularly grateful and thankful that our Pacific community have come out; we’ve tested about 10% of the Auckland City population since the 18th, and we’ve tested 14% of Pacific people, so a greater proportion of Pacific people have come out to be tested.”
On the vaccination front, extra vaccination centres including drive-through facilities have boosted numbers of Pacific people getting shots. This ‘surge’ in vaccinations comes after what Fepulea’i admits was a slow vaccination rollout for Pacific people.
“We had a bit of slow start, but we’re starting to see the numbers go up, and we’re pleased about that,” Fepulea’i says.
“As at a day or two ago, at least 45.9% of our Pacific population had received at least one dose, which is really awesome.
“We’ve got 26% of our Pacific community having had both those doses.”
Fepulea’i says she’s also pleased that many of those who’ve had shots are elderly.
“We’re pleased to see that almost over two-thirds of our older Pacific people aged 65 and over have received their first doses, so we’re keen to really keep pushing that.”
The DHB teams and local providers have been working around the clock to get as many people vaccinated in a safe and convenient way, especially as the region prepares for another two weeks of Level 4 lockdown. She urges those who’ve not vaccinated to get a shot.
“It’s just so critical; in the middle of a major outbreak,… it’s really important for our Pacific community to really understand and make a decision about vaccinating,” Fepulea’i says.
“It’s also really important for us as a group of health providers to make as many different options available for our community. We know that sometimes our people like to do things together as a family, or we do like to come out together as a church or a community group, and so we’re just really pleased that our churches particularly have really come forward, have asked us to put some pop-ups to go out and vaccinate their churches, and we’ve had some really awesome responses.”
