The Samoan vaccination drive through event – Samoa Tatou Tutū Fa’atasi – is running from Friday 24 September to Sunday 26 September at the Māngere Town Centre.

Among the Samoan population in Auckland, 63.1% have received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, while 33.0% are fully vaccinated.

Dr Maryann Heather, a board director of the Pasifika Medical Association (PMA) Membership board and GP at South Seas Healthcare in Ōtara, says they are aiming to vaccinate as many people as they can from the Samoan community.

“The numbers of those vaccinated in our community are pretty low and while we remain in Alert Level 3, this is an opportunity for our Samoan community to come down as a family to get vaccinated,” she says.

Dr Heather says the low vaccination is concerning especially seeing as most of the positive cases during the current Delta outbreak were people from the Samoan community.

“We want to make sure we can minimize any risk of Covid affecting the community. The main thing for us is making sure that we’re taking steps towards protecting our community and families.

We’re also a gateway to the Pacific. Our island of Samoa looks at what we do here so it’s important that we are role models to our families back in Samoa.”

Dr Heather encourages the Samoan community to come down to the vaccination drive through to ensure our families are safe and protected.

“I urge people to come along and get vaccinated. It’s important that we are protecting each other and our most vulnerable.

The atmosphere will be one where we’ll ensure people feel comfortable, safe and informed, as we’ll have health professionals present to answer any questions about the vaccine.”

The Samoan Vaccination Drive-Through is taking place at the Mangere Town Centre from Friday 24 September – Sunday 26 September from 9:00am – 6:00pm.

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Date: Saturday 25 September 2021