Nearly 10,000 doses were delivered across the Southern District on Super Saturday, 16 October, meaning 86.2% of the district’s 12+ population has now received at least one dose, and 68.5% are fully vaccinated.

The event was a huge success, with over 75 vaccination sites operating across the district, including the TSS Earnslaw, with many offering music, kai and giveaways.

By the end of Super Saturday Southern delivered 9,706 vaccinations, 2885 first doses and 6,825 second doses. To date this brings Southern's total numbers to 449,725 vaccinations.

As of 6am on Sunday 17 October:

Southern COVID-19 vaccination programme lead Hamish Brown expressed his thanks to the teams across the district who worked hard to pull out all the stops on this national day of vaccination, and to the councils, volunteer groups and businesses who offered their support.

“We were really pleased with the turnout and the atmosphere was incredible, with the public coming together as a community to get protected against COVID-19,” he said.

“This was a significant step towards our goal of reaching at least 90% vaccinated by Christmas, with about 11,000 people still to go to hit this target.”

However, Brown stressed that this was not the end of the programme and there were many more opportunities to get vaccinated.

“We still have over 110 providers across the district operating weekly schedules, are undertaking workplace vaccinations and have outreach teams going into smaller communities,” he said.

“Planning is well under way with Gore District mayor Tracy Hicks and Gary Tong, mayor for the Southland District, to deliver a “farmgate tour” of Southland in early November, visiting an estimated 20-25 small communities to boost vaccination rates.”

He also said that whilst the current target was at least 90% of the population vaccinated by Christmas, the more people who are vaccinated, the better.

No appointments are required at mass vaccination centres in Dunedin and Invercargill, vaccinating pharmacies and some general practices.

For those who prefer to plan, bookings are still available through bookmyvaccine.nz or over the phone by calling 0800 28 29 26.

If you have any questions or concerns about the vaccine, please call the free helpline 0800 28 29 26 to talk to a health professional.

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