The Southern District Health Board intends to have 139 people working at its Meridian Mall Covid-19 vaccination centre, but do not expect to see them all there tomorrow.
The staffing figure was revealed in a response to a written Parliamentary Question lodged by Dunedin National list MP Michael Woodhouse.
Those 139 people were employed in five fulltime equivalent roles and 72.7 part-time positions, but the nationwide short supply of vaccine in June and July — when the Government ordered all DHBs to stop vaccinating people ahead of schedule — meant most are not at work yet.
In its initial stages the southern vaccination programme was tracking well ahead of targets agreed with the Ministry of Health.
By May more than 2000 vaccinations a week were being administered at the Mall clinic, which rose to about 3300 a week by the end of June.
By the week ending July 18 that had dropped to 710.
As vaccine stocks were replenished that rate picked up again, and 2240 injections were given at the Mall clinic in the week ending July 25.
‘‘In response to sudden changes the locality managers aim to adjust rosters by agreement where possible, including redeploying staff to off-site activity or mandatory training,’’ SDHB Covid-19 vaccination rollout incident controller Hamish Brown said.
