At the weekend, ahead of schedule, Covid-19 vaccine bookings for people aged 50-plus were opened.
However, many clinics across the region advertised on social media that they would accept anyone who came in and wanted to be vaccinated, regardless of age or Covid-19 group classification.
Southern District Health Board Covid-19 vaccine rollout incident controller Hamish Brown said not all clinics would be able to offer walk-ins, but he was pleased when anyone opted to be vaccinated.
"Swift progress through the age bands has meant we have spare capacity so are able to accommodate walk-ins at some clinics and we are looking forward to further age bands opening this week," he said.
"We want to ensure our communities are vaccinated as soon as possible and remind everyone who is eligible and has not yet booked their appointment to do so now."
The SDHB region is the fifth highest of the 20 DHBs in terms of number of vaccinations given so far, but it lags behind almost all DHBs for matching the Ministry of Health’s vaccination schedule.
Director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said last week that the SDHB had agreed to ambitious targets and he was pleased with its progress.
Mr Brown said the Government’s recent decision, following advice from manufacturer Pfizer, that the length of time between the two doses of the vaccine could be extended to six weeks could make more capacity for walk-in vaccinations available in coming weeks.
"While we prefer that people book in for their appointments as this guarantees availability and helps us manage demand across the programme, where clinics have spare availability, they may choose to advertise walk-ins," he said.
"This is part of our flexible and pragmatic approach to ensure we meet our communities’ needs."
