Etu Pasifika vaccination drive for ALL Pacific regardless of visa status

The largest Pacific health provider in Christchurch, Etu Pasifika, is continuing to see high demands from Pacific families for the Covid-19 vaccine. They will be running a vaccination drive for their Pacific community this weekend.

Since reopening last week, the Etu Pasifika vaccination centre has been vaccinating between 250-300 people a day.

The clinic operates both a walk-in and drive-through service to meet the high demands from Pacific families and ensure that the process is as fast and as safe as possible.

In an interview for 531 PI yesterday, Clinical Director for Etu Pasifika, Dr Monica Nua-George encouraged families to get vaccinated and protect each other.

“We want to encourage our families that this is a great time for us in Christchurch to get vaccinated because it will become much harder once the Delta gets into our area.

We encourage people to come as a family and come as a household as it is important that we have everyone vaccinated.”

Dr Nua-George reassures that for those who do not have an NHI number or those with concerns around expired visas, they can still go in for a vaccination.

“If you don't have an NHI, that is not a barrier to getting vaccinated. We can still do vccinations and our team can create an NHI for those people.

Whether your visa is current or expired, you are eligible to get vaccinated as long as you are 12 years old and over. We have systems in place to help support those we cannot find in the system, without any concerns for their visa status.”