Aucklanders over 65 are being invited to book their first Covid-19 vaccinations but it could be weeks before they actually get them.
Texts and emails will go out by the end of the week, but it will just be an invitation to book. People will then have to wait for an appointment.
Fewer than half of the older South Aucklanders who are prioritised to receive Covid-19 vaccinations have had them.
The government's roll-out schedule put about 70,000 South Aucklanders over 65 years old in priority group two because the area is at higher risk. Other Aucklanders over 65 are in group three.
The initial plan was to have finished group two by May with group three starting the same month.
Auckland's district health boards programme lead Matt Hannant told Checkpoint they would get in touch and people just needed to wait.
"We will send them either an email or a text or maybe both. People just need to sit tight, don't worry, we'll get in touch."
He said the length of time it took for their appointment would depend on where they live.
"Some of our sites are booked out for the next couple of weeks ... most sites have capacity in a couple weeks time."
Hannant said there were eight or nine community sites and they were also working with GPs and pharmacies to administer the vaccine.
"We're confident and we're also bringing on more sites. We have another four sites opening this month.
"We're taking a phased approach to this and we're bringing on more capacity all the time to make sure everyone can get vaccinated."
He said they had enough on-site and projected Pfizer vaccine doses to deliver according to the rollout plan.
"We're confident we can deliver that plan and we've got everything we need to achieve that plan."
Hannant said they had delivered more than 300,000 vaccine doses in Auckland to date and they were now administering about 45,000 to 50,000 vaccines per week.
"That will just continue to grow."
He said they hoped to have invites out for under-65s in group three with underlying health conditions out by the middle of July.
