Counties Manukau DHB has joined Auckland and Waitematā in hitting the 90 per cent fully vaccinated milestone for its residents over 12 years old.
That means all of Auckland’s DHBs have now reached the Covid-19 vaccination milestone — just as the region’s borders lifted for travellers late on Tuesday.
It joins four other DHBs outside of Auckland who have also reached the rate: Capital and Coast, Hutt Valley, Canterbury and Southern.
Counties Manukau DHB chief executive Margie Apa said it was an enormous feat.
“This is the result of teams of teams working together through mass vaccination events, GPs and pharmacies, countless pop-up clinics, neighbourhood outreach that includes door-to-door campaigns to bring the vaccine to as many people as possible," Apa said.
Mayor Phil Goff said vaccinations have been key to keeping hospitalisations from Covid-19 low.
“As a city and a country, we have literally saved thousands of our citizens from serious illness and dying of the virus,” he said.
“These are fantastic figures, which are better than most other cities around the world.”
However, Covid-19 vaccination rates for Māori in Counties Manukau are still behind, with only 76 per cent of the DHB’s eligible Māori population having received two jabs.
Pasifika vaccination rates in the DHB also haven’t reached the mark yet, with only 85 per cent of the eligible population fully vaccinated.
Northern Region Health Coordination Centre vaccination programme director Matt Hannant said there was still work to do.
"While it's great to see the city reach double dose, our job isn’t done until we achieve better than 90 per cent for Māori, Pacific and communities that are vulnerable to the poor outcomes of Covid-19.”
Nationwide, 94 per cent of people over the age of 12 have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine and nearly 90 per cent have received two doses.
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