Omicron may kick-start Kaikoura’s vax stagnant rate

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

From local democracy reporter Adam Burns:
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The arrival of Omicron could be the marker as to whether Kaikōura's stagnant vaccination rates are kickstarted.

Mayor Craig Mackle believes the inevitable emergence of the latest variant threat of Covid-19 may serve as an indicator as to whether community concern will bump up the vaccination numbers in the district, which at one point served as a national benchmark.

With 88 per cent of the district's applicable population double vaccinated, Kaikōura now has the lowest rates of any of the territories in the South Island.

It was previously touted as the top performing town in New Zealand in early October, according to the Ministry of Health with 55 per cent of its population receiving both doses.

"It was a solid start and then it just stalled," Mackle said.

The town copped a slight scare last week when a supermarket and a hardware store, visited on Wednesday January 5, were listed as locations of interest by the Ministry of Health.

Kaikōura Health (Te Ha o Te Ora) said the development had sparked only a minor increase in testing and Mackle agreed there had been little cause for concern among locals.

"To be fair it was nothing much," he said.

"It does alert you and makes you concentrate on what you're supposed to be doing.

"Obviously it was just someone passing through and nothing further has reared its head."

Mackle was at a loss as to why vaccination numbers had stalled.

"I'd like to see anyone who can be done, done," he said.

"There's a multitude of reasons that people believe they don't need it. But you can't change the way some peoples' minds work."

However he remained confident that the rates would ramp up once Omicron surfaced in the district.

"I bet it will step up once it appears here as it tends to in other places," he said.

"You get the ones who don't like to be told what to do...they'll be the first ones to jump."