New Plymouth and Hāwera essential worker vaccination events

People who are keeping Taranaki running during the Alert Level 4 lockdown are getting the opportunity to receive their COVID-19 vaccination at pop-up essential worker clinics this weekend.

The clinics, at the TSB Stadium, New Plymouth on Friday 27 August and Saturday 28 August, and the TSB Hub, Hāwera on Sunday 29 August, aim to vaccinate more than 5,500 essential workers in just one weekend.

Rachel Court, Taranaki COVID-19 Vaccination Programme operations lead, said: “We want to make sure that those people who are out there on the front-line, be that in our hospitals, supermarkets, emergency services, petrol stations, food banks or wherever, have the opportunity to protect themselves, their families and the communities they serve by receiving their COVID-19 vaccination.

“Appointments are also open to those who share a household with an essential worker, such as whānau, housemates or lodgers.”

Essential workers are those who fall into Group 2 in the sequencing framework for the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out. The definition has been updated to include new groups such as supermarket workers, people who work in DIY or hardware stores, public transport services or self-service laundries and food banks. People can check to see if they are now included in this group online at www.tdhb.org.nz

“People who fall into this group will receive booking information from their employer over the next couple of days,” says Rachel. “If you are self-employed, please email us on covid.vacenquiries@tdhb.org.nz and we will be in touch.”

Any household members, including children aged 12 – 15, can also book an appointment to attend the clinic.

“Booking an appointment means that you can be sure of receiving your COVID-19 vaccination on the day,” says Rachel. “Anyone who comes without an appointment will be booked into the next available slot, which may be some time away, so it really does pay to book in advance.”

Essential workers who already have an appointment booked at a later date can call 0800 28 29 26 and ask to change it.

“After the success of our community clinics in Stratford, the programme team is keen to reach out to Taranaki people again so we can vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as we can,” says Rachel.

“Being in an Alert Level 4 lockdown really brings it home how important getting vaccinated is for the whole community.”

Things to remember when attending the essential worker clinics:

• Please do arrive no more than 10 minutes early for your appointment.
• Please do not bring children under the age of 12 to your appointment. We need to keep the number of people inside the building to a minimum. Caregivers should book appointments at least one hour apart from a partner or other caregiver to ensure children can be looked after away from the clinic venue.
• Always wear a mask, observe social distancing, scan in and use hand sanitiser when asked.