Free parking right outside, a warm welcome at the door, hugs, bright shirts in Pasifika prints - Capital and Coast District Health Board is on a charm offensive to combat any vaccine reluctance among the Pacific community.
The Pacific Vaccination Festival Day in Lower Hutt today marked the start of the DHB's bid to vaccinate more than than 5000 Pacific people and their families in the region.
Nationally, the vaccination roll out is currently targeting people in group 3: those at risk of getting very sick if they get Covid-19.
Capital and Coast District Health Board has dropped the qualifying age of 65 down to 55 and older, for Māori and Pacific people and their households.
DHB Pacific people's health director Tagaloa Junior Ulu said it was about "equity".
"It's recognising that our Pacific people tend to get illnesses sooner than the rest of the population... but we're also bringing their families in today. So you'll see it's not just people aged 55-plus, it's their whole aiga, their whole whānau here, and that's encouraged.
"This is how we are as Pacific people: we don't just work on an individualistic basis, we work on a communal basis."
Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The DHB was partnering with the Pacific Health Service and Te Awakairangi Health Network as part of their "trusted faces, trusted places" strategy, Ulu said.
Clinical nurse leader Luana Penese, from Pacific Health Service Hutt Valley, said a clinical setting could be "quite intimidating" to some people, so their aim was to bring "a Pasifika feel to it."
"[By] adding a bit of colour and personality and making them feel as comfortable as possible".
Capital and Coast District Health Board has a bid to vaccinate more than than 5000 Pacific people and their families in the region. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
There was some skepticism about vaccines of all kinds in the community, so a big part of her job was reassuring people, she said.
"We're here for reassurance and letting them know we've done it ourselves, and other prominent people in the community have done it too and it's nothing to worry about.
"If we're able to do it, so can they, because it's really to protect their families and their community."
Merivi Tia'i, a 27-year-old public servant, was one of 160 people booked for vaccinations at Lower Hutt today, along with her grandmother, parents, older brother and a cousin.
She admitted she may have been a bit hesitant a few months ago.
"But I've been doing my research and listening to trusted sources about the Covid vaccine and they've been able to reassure me, and here I am today.
"We've got connections to a lot of elderly people, so I really wanted them to be protected by us doing our bit."
Merivi Tia'i booked in an appointment for the Covid-19 vaccine in Lower Hutt along with her family. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Speaking after her vaccination, Pulusila Tia'i said she urged anyone to take the chance to get vaccinated if offered it.
"I was waiting for it, I was looking forward to it. It's nice to be protected, it's nice to be vaccinated. I am happy."
Tia'i's brother in Samoa was vaccinated yesterday.
"We're all just waiting for the borders to open."
Further outreach days are planned for Porirua, Kapiti and Wellington, with clinics open at different times and on different days to accommodate working people and those with other responsibilities.
Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
