When will group 3 start being vaccinated?

We know that our patients are finding it difficult to get good information about when they can expect to be vaccinated.

The information below is current as at 17th June 21

In Waitaha/Canterbury we’re currently vaccinating people in Group 1, Group 2 and a small number of people in Group 3.

• Group 1 includes border and MIQ workers and their household contacts.
• Group 2 includes frontline health workers, people working and living in long-term residential care, Māori and Pacific people aged 70 and over, the people they live with and their carers.
• Group 3 includes people aged 65 and over, people with some underlying health conditions, pregnant people, and people with disabilities, older Māori and Pacific people, the people they live with and their carers.

To roll out the largest vaccination programme in our history we are vaccinating people in groups, starting with those most likely to catch the virus and those most at risk of getting sick.

Our focus is on continuing to get those in Groups 1 and 2 vaccinated and those in Group 3 booked and vaccinated. Everyone in Group 3 will be invited to book their vaccination by the end of July.

From 28 July people in Group 4 will be able to register their details on Book My Vaccine (the new national booking system). Once bookings are open for each age group people will be sent an email or text letting them know it’s their turn to book. Book My Vaccine and a national booking 0800 number will be ready to use from 28 July.

When it is your turn to book an appointment, you will be contacted directly with instructions about how to book. This will be by text, email, letter or phone call.

If you’re in Group 3 and you haven’t been contacted to book your vaccination, you don’t need to do anything right now. you will be contacted when it’s your turn.  Please be patient.

The best place for you to find answers to questions and keep up with progress is our local vaccination website: Vaccinate Canterbury

As our patients will already know, we are a very busy medical centre. We seriously considered a variety of options to deliver the Covid19 vaccine at the practice. Regrettably due to our limited physical space at the practice as well as the existing high workload it not practical for us to be involved in the vaccination program. We simply do not have the physical space required to accommodate the extra vaccination and administration staff that would be required.  Our patients will be contacted by the “Vaccinate Canterbury” team in due course.  We would appreciate you not ringing the practice to ask for information about the Covid Vaccination program as the extra calls are clogging up our phone lines.

We know that our patients will be disappointed that Ilam is not involved in the vaccination program. So are we. All we can do is ask you to be patient and wait to be contacted. Thank you for your understanding.