A South Auckland family who became gravely ill after contracting Covid-19 amid the current Delta outbreak are doing their part for the nationwide Super Saturday Vaxathon.
One month ago, Tuala Tagaloa Tusani was the sickest he had ever been after contracting Covid-19.
“I just felt like my head was going to explode and my fever went for three cycles, so it’s 14 hours, half an hour and then 14 hours and I knew from then, this is no normal sickness,” he told 1News.
“Even now I'm still short of breath, I’m going to bed a lot earlier, I’m getting a lot more tired.”
His partner, Fionna Burton, also became gravely ill.
“My body was giving up. It was because of the pain I have, the fever I have - I was three degrees away from fever death,” she said.
Their young children also tested positive, and were worried they would never see their parents again.
Now, the family is working alongside community leaders to encourage others to get vaccinated.
“No vax, no job. No vax, no party. No vax, no clubs so you know, we want to get down to Level 1,” ASA Foundation CEO Tofilau Esther Tofilau said.
Grocery packs, bathroom supplies and other treats were handed out as a small token of thanks to those doing their part.
“Everybody who comes and gets a jab gets either a spa product or a spa bag and they get period products to take away as well,” The Period Place’s Danika Revell said.
Covid-19 survivor and church leader Leatuao Larry Tupa'i-Lavea has donated $10,000 worth of goods.
“It truly is in our culture, a reciprocal love that says, ‘You've done this and we need to say thank you for turning up’, and that’s really what it’s about - it’s a gift of gratitude and thankfulness,” he said.
By 5.30pm on Saturday there had been a total of 124,669 doses across the country, according to the Ministry of Health.
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