30,000 Nationwide Picnic Protests for Freedom as Pasifika Turn Out for Super Saturday Vaccination

New Zealand’s Ministry of Health is hailing the Super Saturday vaccination drive a huge success with people rolling up their sleeves for their COVID-19 vaccinations yesterday. According to the final official figures released this evening, 130,002 doses were administered – 39,025 first doses and 90,977 second doses.

Pasifika people turned out for at least 11,279 shots, 3,763 first doses and 7,516 second doses.

Super Saturday Pacific COVID-19 vaccination data

DHB of residence(Grouped) First Second Total Total % Pop
Auckland Metro
2,715
5,899
8,614
4.3%
Bay of Plenty
70
56
126
3.4%
Canterbury
225
327
552
4.3%
Capital & Coast and Hutt Valley
442
757
1,199
4.1%
Hawke’s Bay
147
217
364
7.3%
Lakes
59
48
107
4.7%
MidCentral
58
100
158
3.5%
Nelson Marlborough
47
112
159
7.5%

 

Auckland now has 89% of its eligible people vaccinated with at least one dose. In Auckland 40,946 people were vaccinated , including 8,905 first doses and 32,041 second doses.

783 vaccination sites were operating across the country during the mass vaccination event.

Organisers of the Freedom Movement have also hailed a series of picnic protests held across the country a success with approximately 30,000 people turning out for their own “Super Saturday” event to protest for freedom.

People gathered in Auckland, Whakatane, Rotorua, Mt Maunganui, Tauranga, Wellington, Nelson and Christchurch. In a press release from the Freedom and Rights Coalition New Zealand, they said that the general feedback from the public in attendance is that they believe the Government is doing an appalling job.

The release also claims that many teachers, doctors and employees have said this past week has been a real wake-up call to the realities of how many freedoms the Government has stripped from [the people].

According to their figures, six thousand people turned out to the Auckland Domain despite the city being in COVID-19 Alert Level 3 stage 1. The promotional material for the event encouraged strict adherence to COVID-19 regulations, with QR code scanning, social distancing, mask wearing, and sanitising stations being available.

As of today there are 51 new community cases, 47 in Auckland and four in the Waikato. 28 of these cases are linked, of whom 18 are household contacts, and 23 remain unlinked with investigations continuing.

Image Credit: Freedoms and Rights Coalition NZ (left) / Blackout Media – Hahana Vaxathon (right)