A campaign is underway to have Canterbury 90 per cent fully vaccinated by Labour Day on October 25.
There’s a long way to go, however, with the region currently below the national average.
Among those getting the jab are staff at produce wholesaler, Meadow Mushrooms. “We'll be doing this over two days. By the end of it, we expect to have everyone on track for a 90 per cent vaccination,” CEO Todd Grave said.
Meadow Mushrooms among many workplaces offering the Covid-19 vaccine at work.
“I know some of the people don't like going online and booking it, they're not comfortable with computers, so just the fact that they can come in and get it done is so much easier,” one woman said.
A multi-agency approach has set a target for Canterbury to be 90 per cent fully vaccinated in just over two weeks. “We're up to 80 per cent for either first or second doses which is really great, and we've got around 46 per cent who have had their second dose with about 136,000 booked in for their second dose,” 90% for Canterbury campaign’s Leeann Watson said. "We're tracking really well but now's not a time to get complacent - we need to just keep going with this.”
While many Canterbury businesses are jumping onboard with the vaccinate at work scheme, some are taking it a bit further by offering an incentive to sweeten the deal.
Original Foods is offering cash prizes for double vaccinated staff over the next three months, CEO Anthony Honeybone said.
“There's a whole lot of cash prizes for the next three months and then at Christmas, we're drawing out of a hat and we're doing a helicopter sightseeing ride around the Port Hills which is really cool,” he said.
Another focus for the south is Māori. While kaumātua are leading the way, younger Māori still need convincing.
“Rangitahi are so networked in to their digital communication systems and all sorts of social media so we are actually just looking at how we can lift those rates a lot more than what they are at the moment,” Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu CEO Arihia Bennett said.
SHARE ME