A small family-owned and operated rest home in the south Auckland community of Papatoetoe has today become the first Aged Residential Care facility in Auckland to get its residents vaccinated for COVID-19.

A team of vaccinators from the Northern Region Health Coordination Centre (NRHCC) vaccinated 38 residents and staff at Kenderdine Park Rest Home on day one of the region’s Aged Residential Care outreach programme.

“We are delighted to have started this important phase of our vaccination programme which will see some of our most vulnerable community members protected from COVID-19, said Matt Hannant, Vaccination programme lead for the NRHCC.

“There are over 180 Aged Residential Care facilities across metro Auckland so this is a significant undertaking but we will continue to scale up the outreach programme over the coming weeks with the support of our community partners and the facilities themselves.”

Kenderdine Park was chosen as a starting point for the programme as it sits in the heart of the South Auckland community highlighted as a priority within the national vaccination programme.

Owner Jennie Herring said they felt honoured to be the first centre receiving vaccinations.

“We pride ourselves on creating a healthy, safe and happy environment for our residents so to have them protected from COVID-19 Is a huge step in ensuring they continue to stay safe and well.”

More than 87,000 doses of vaccine have now been given to people across the Auckland region.

As well as starting vaccinations in aged care facilities this week, the NRHCC is also finalising agreements with several GP practices and urgent care providers across the region so that they too can deliver vaccines to support the rollout.

A number of new large vaccinations centres and small local centres will also be opening in the next few weeks across the Auckland region.. The details and locations of these will be announced soon.

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