Photo: AFP / Tek Image/Science Photo Library
The DHB has previously referred questions about how many people were in each priority group to the Ministry of Health.
When asked how many people were in each group, Southern DHB vaccine rollout co-leader Karl Metzler only gave an estimate that there were 100,000 people in group 3 in Otago and Southland. Yeah that s like how long is a piece of string, he said. Off the top of my head I don t have that data because we re still really working our way through group 3 and because of supply constraints and the new booking system, it s really difficult at this stage to track those numbers exactly.
Robyn Edie/Stuff
Covid-19 vaccine programme leader Karl Metzler, front right, poses with some of his vaccination team at the opening of the permanent vaccination clinic in Invercargill in April. He’s hopeful more Southland and Otago residents will be enrolled with GPs by the end of the vaccine roll-out.
Southern Covid-19 vaccine programme leader Karl Metzler is confident the roll-out is going to plan but said the biggest challenge will be standing up a workforce as groups get bigger. Vaccinations for group three – people over the age of 65 or with underlying health conditions – began in May with 109,000 expected to receive their first dose in the next two months.
“That is long, long overdue and so well-needed,” Metzler said. Morbidity rates for these communities were unacceptably poor, he said, and the agency would open the door to more investment in kaupapa Māori health services. “I’m cautiously optimistic,” Metzler added, warning that the success of the plan would be dependent on how it was implemented. The news was a double-edged sword Metzler said, because while it was a positive move, it was a major disruption at a time when the health system was rolling out its biggest vaccination programme ever. Health officials could not afford to lose sight of the enormous effort needed to deliver 575,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses in Southland and Otago by the end of the year, he said.
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