Months of hard work by Māori health and community services is paying off in Tairāwhiti where more than 90 percent of people have had the first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.
Turanga Health vaccination vehicle. Photo: RNZ / Tom Kitchin
But the region still has a way to go before it hits 90 percent double-dosed.
There are no recorded Covid-19 cases despite multiple positive results from wastewater testing over the past month.
The last case was last year - a person who had been in managed isolation and did not infect anyone else.
But it is not a matter of if but when Covid-19 arrives - and the people of Gisborne know it.
"Yeah there is a bit of a concern," a Gisborne resident said.
"I think it's inevitable it will spread across New Zealand.
"I'm just concerned because we're quite an isolated community and there's a lot of old people living here.
"I suppose you have to be worried about it, but it's gonna get here at some stage, it's just a matter of when.
"I think it would be terrible for Gisborne so far we have been pretty lucky," another resident said.
Turanga Health is one of the Māori health providers getting shots into arms.
About 87 percent of Maori have had their first dose in the region - just 77 percent are fully vaccinated.
Chief executive Reweti Ropiha and his team have been working tirelessly over the past 10 weeks.
He said his staff would get a well-deserved break over Christmas but the mahi was not ending anytime soon.
"The mahi is still going for us, alongside the total population we've still got Māori rates, we're at 87 percent so there's still about 600 out there we need to squeeze so our endeavours are still in those spaces," Ropiha said.
People are worried about the virus arriving - especially the Omicron variant.
"It's in Hawke's Bay, it's in the Bay of Plenty, it's on our doorstep and we still have the fortitude that we can still do a lot of things without covid being in our backyard," Ropiha said.
The last drive-thru vaccination clinic before Christmas has just been held at Harry Barker Reserve. Static clinics will still be operating.
Turanga Health senior manager and vaccination assistant Dallas Poi was one of the crew helping.
She said there had been a lot of whānau Māori coming through in the last week.
"Predominately Māori and their first dose, it's really good to see them come out and get vaccinated, anyone coming through is great for us here in Turanga," Poi said.
The hardworking vaccinators will be back in the new year to help with the rollout for children and those needing their booster shots.