Northland is making a Covid-19 vaccine comeback after a scrambled start to the rollout.
Photo: Supplied via LDR
Northland DHB has gone from being 3000 doses behind a weekly target in April, to 1200 doses above target, in the latest weekly stats from the Ministry of Health.
Board members met at Dargaville Hospital yesterday to review what went wrong and what was done right.
In April, the DHB became the first in Aotearoa to offer vaccines to anyone aged 50 and over, to increase the number of vaccinated Māori adults.
Then came unintended consequences - an overwhelming surge in demand, with up to 3500 calls a day from people wanting jabs, as well as email and IT booking system requests.
Dr Nick Chamberlain Photo: Supplied
Chief executive Dr Nick Chamberlain told board members the online system was temporary and run from Auckland, and it had not worked well for Northland.
"The booking system we are waiting for is the national booking system which will be quite significantly better. If we hadn't relied on the Auckland system and our own manual system, I think we would have been much better off."
Now the DHB is using new phone operators across Te Tai Tokerau, to slot in immunisations for callers.
DHB vaccine rollout senior officer Jeanette Wedding said the region was on track to have more than 44,000 doses administered by the end of May.
"It's taken us a while but we've actually got there. We've started to see the Māori providers come on board now which is really great and then the GPs will start on and the pharmacists will start on."
Vaccine resistance causing concern
When demand was unmanageable, some people were turned away last month but not everyone in Northland is keen on the Covid-19 shots.
Dr Carol Peters told fellow board members dodgy science and statistics were fuelling vaccine resistance in local communities.
"There's a whole cohort. I am talking here about people that are influencers, like, for example principals in schools, who are not themselves in favour of vaccination.
"I don't know, they've been influenced by dodgy science or something like that and I think that's a real risk, because people go to those sorts of people to ask for an opinion."
Dr Chamberlain said the DHB was using community information sessions and workshops to combat this.
"In some cases it's going to be a gradual thing and we think [there is] a lot more strength in 'face to face' rather than glossy brochures and TV ads."
Vaccine Alliance Aotearoa clinical director Dr Fran Priddy said transparency was one of the best ways for DHBs to address vaccine hesitancy.
"It's important to keep on top of perceptions of the Covid vaccines in different communities and to understand what the concerns are and address them up front."
Concerns about Covid-19 vaccines need to be addressed directly, Dr Fran Priddy says. Photo: supplied / Victoria University of Wellington.
She said the rollout was taking place in an incredibly challenging environment, and she encouraged people to show empathy and patience towards the vaccine workforce.
In a statement, a Ministry of Health spokeswoman said Covid-19 vaccination targets were based on vulnerability and risk of serious illness in a population, not DHB size.
She said Northland had an ambitious plan and was working hard to protect its people.
A national vaccine booking system is expected in the coming weeks.