Several medical practices around east Auckland have revealed their vaccination rates across the different eligible age groups.
Highland Park Medical told the Times that, across their practices, they’ve reached 99.7 per cent vaccinated for their over 65s.
As of September 28, their rate for the first dose of their total 12+ population is 93 per cent.
“Our patient population represents the wonderful diversity of Auckland and the vaccination rate percentage represents the hard work and thousands of hours we have put in voluntarily to reach this number which has been immense,” Dr Brett Hyland, general practitioner at Hyland Park Medical, says.
They were one of the first GP practice groups to be allowed to administer the Covid vaccine in May.
Crawford Medical Centre, based in Howick, says that of their total patient population aged 12+, 87 per cent have had at least one dose, and 59 per cent are fully vaccinated.
Of their 65+ patient population, 92 per cent have had one dose, and 88 per cent have had both.
Their Maori patient population shows 85 per cent having their first dose and 52 per cent being fully vaccinated, which “we’re really pleased with as nationwide this has been a challenging group to get across the line,” Kate Donley, Crawford’s practice manager, says.
Around 80 per cent of their 12-15-year-olds have had one dose, and 8 per cent are fully vaccinated. This low figure is due to the group starting much later so they aren’t eligible for their second yet, Donley says.
“We’re definitely at the pointy end of the vaccine programme now. We did see a significant uptake in the 12-15 age group when they became eligible.
“This was really encouraging as children are effective spreaders of Covid-19 but being vaccinated means they will carry a lower viral load, getting less sick themselves and infecting less people.”
East Care was one of the first Covid-19 vaccination clinics in Auckland, along with their clinics at Botany Junction and Ormiston Medical.
“In fact, of the first 4 practices vaccinating in the Auckland region, 3 of them were ours,” Gordon Armstrong, chief executive of East Care Group, says.
East Care has now vaccinated more than 8100 patients.
“We effectively operate as an ‘overflow’ site for local GPs,” Armstrong says, “so we don’t have a percentage for enrolled patients as we don’t enrol. Weekend availability and appointments for vaccination have proven very popular with the public.”
As for their clinics, Botany Junction and Ormiston Medical, 83.60 per cent of their 12+ eligible population (15, 266) have had one dose, and 60.20 per cent are fully vaccinated.
Their 65+ age group has slightly higher numbers with 85.2 per cent having one dose and 75.5 per cent fully vaccinated.
“We’re now finding that we need to actively encourage and support patients who are vaccine hesitant for lots of different reasons like needle phobia or anxiety,” Donley says, ”
“We would recommend anyone who has concerns about the vaccine to go to their usual GP practice to be vaccinated as there’s already a high level of trust.”
