The Southern District Health Board (SDHB) is looking at ways to improve vaccination rates in rural areas of the Upper Clutha, as those areas continue to lag behind. 

In the light of a new Covid-19 framework announced by the government this morning (Friday October 22), the Wānaka App has taken a magnifying glass to vaccination rates in the Upper Clutha.

In the Upper Clutha, 88 per cent (11,250 people out of an eligible population of 12,838) have now had one dose of the vaccine - an increase of 2.6 per cent in the past seven days according to data released by the SDHB on Wednesday (October 20).

Sixty-eight per cent of the eligible population (8,741 people) have received their second dose.

The darker the colour, the higher the vaccination rate

The map above shows vaccination rates within areas defined by Statistics NZ: Wānaka Central has the highest percentage of people who have had their first dose (94 per cent), while outer areas currently have lower rates of vaccination.

The percentage of the eligible population who have received their first dose in ‘Outer Wānaka’ (north of Albert Town and west of the Hāwea River) is 77 per cent; in Lake Hāwea it is 81 per cent; and in ‘Upper Clutha Valley’ (which includes Hāwea Flat and Luggate) it is 78 per cent.

Within ‘Cardrona’ (which includes the Matukituki Valley), 85 per cent of people have received their first dose and 68 per cent are fully vaccinated. 

District-wide the rate is much higher, with 94 per cent of the eligible Queenstown Lakes district having had their first dose, and 72 per cent fully vaccinated, according to information supplied by the SDHB on Tuesday (October 19).

SDHB Covid-19 vaccine programme lead Hamish Brown acknowledged some Upper Clutha areas need extra help.

“The Southern Covid-19 vaccine programme is aware of additional need in rural Upper Clutha and Lake Hāwea and is talking to councils and community groups to determine suitable solutions,” he said. 

New Zealand will move to the new Covid-19 protection framework when 90 per cent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated across each DHB. 

The PM said the South Island could move to the new system before the rest of the country if all district health boards (DHBs) in the south hit the target of 90 per cent vaccination.

Of the South Island’s five DHBs, Southern is almost 70 per cent fully vaccinated; South Canterbury is at 66.9 per cent; Canterbury 62.42 per cent; Nelson/Marlborough 68 per cent; and the West Coast just 43 per cent.

Cabinet will review progress on vaccination rates on November 29.

Vaccinations can be booked at the Book My Vaccine website.

PHOTO: Supplied