1 October 2021
Media: Rotorua Daily Post
Topic: COVID-19 vaccination uptake
Enquiry
As part of The 90% Project NZME has ranked New Zealand’s towns by vaccination uptake based on data provided by the Ministry of Health.
Rotorua is ranked 32nd [of 66] in the list with 42 per cent of the population fully vaccinated as of yesterday / September 29.
This information is embargoed until Saturday morning but I was wondering if I could get comment from the Mayor about this ranking in response to the questions below:
- What do you think of these results? Are they surprising? Why? Why not?
- What do you think is working to encourage vaccinations in Rotorua?
- What is not working? What are the hurdles to vaccination in Rotorua?
- What does Rotorua need to overcome these hurdles?
- What age brackets or groups are proving to be slower on vaccine uptake and how can this be changed?
- What can the Rotorua Daily Post's readers do to help promote vaccinations in the community?
Response
Reporter was informed Mayor Chadwick did not consider some of the questions to be for her, as mayor, to answer.
It was suggested to the reporter to reach out to the agencies involved in vaccinations (eg Lakes DHB and Te Arawa COVID hub) in regards to questions relating to what is working or not, what needs to be done to overcome hurdles and what those hurdles are, and information about what groups/age brackets are not getting vaccinated and how that can be changed.
From Mayor Chadwick:
There needs to be a good push now to get as many people vaccinated as we can possibly get – we definitely need to get those numbers up.
I think we’re now getting to the hard end of it with the hard-to-reach or those who are perhaps fearful, as well as those who are anti-vaccination and I’ve made a decision to not attend functions where people involved are actively opposing vaccination.
Vaccination is our way out of lockdowns and ongoing alert level changes and is crucial both for our health and wellbeing and for our economy. Locally, while some sectors are doing okay, our tourism sector and others who rely on visitors are doing it very tough in these uncertain times.
I urge everyone to get vaccinated and if you’re unsure about it, speak with a health professional.
It’s very easy to get vaccinated in Rotorua through the well-run Lakes DHB operation and pop-up vaccination centres run by the likes of Te Arawa. I’ve been along to see these and there’s a great sense among people, once they’ve had their vaccination, of doing their bit for the community.
And that’s what it’s really about – we each need to do our bit for the benefit of all and those of us who have been vaccinated need to encourage others and help to allay any concerns they may have.
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Media: Rotorua Daily Post
Topic: Alcohol licenses
Enquiry
I'm doing a story about alcohol and liquor stores and was wondering if this was the full list of the current applications? Or is this just some of them? Where could I find the others?
Could I also please have a full list of all the liquor stores and outlets in the same format as is in the applications - the name and premise name, the license, and address?
Response
Reporter was informed that the appllications at the link below were all of the current alcohol licensing application notices: https://www.rotorualakescouncil.nz/our-council/consultation-and-public-notices/alcohol-licensing-application-notices
Reporter was provided with document providing list of all premises in the Rotorua district currently licensed to sell alcohol.