Greater Wellington says hat’s off to Wellingtonian of the Year Teresea Olsen for working tirelessly to boost COVID vaccination rates in the region to help keep vulnerable communities as safe as possible.

“Teresea and the Kokiri Marae Keriana Olsen Trust worked tirelessly, and notably in helping Metlink get its Delta Buster bus on the road to provide an eye-catching mobile, community focused, pop-up vaccination centre,” says Greater Wellington Chair Daran Ponter.

“It’s a well-deserved honour and rightful recognition from the people of Wellington of a fabulous achievement. If we had such an award, she’d be Greater Wellingtonian of the year, too.

“Her energy, enthusiasm and commitment to supporting vulnerable communities was outstanding and obviously played a big role in ensuring the region exceeded a 90 per cent vaccination rate.”

The key to success hinged on making vaccination easy. One aspect of her achievement was building on free travel to and from vaccinations that Metlink already had in place across the region, ensuring the Delta Buster was able to get to hard to reach communities.

“Thanks significantly to strong and targeted communications from the trust that pinpointed where and when vaccination would be available, we were able to provide a vaccination option for people who otherwise may have missed out,” says Cr Ponter.

As Teresa Olsen said at the time “we know that it’s hard for some whānau to get around and make appointments so we want to take the leg work out for them with this mobile based service. Having a uniquely Hutt styled bus should help give us visibility in the community and encourage more people to get vaccinated,” said Teresea Olsen.

© Scoop Media