New Zealanders aged 50 years and over will be able to get vaccinated for COVID-19 in two Northland vaccine clinics on Tuesday.
The Northland District Health Board extended the invitation, which will allow people over 50 to receive the coronavirus vaccine at either Northland Event Centre in Whangārei (also known as Semenoff Stadium) or at Kaitaia Hospital's Recreation Hall.
"These clinics are open to anyone in the community who is over 50 years of age and wishes to be vaccinated against COVID-19. These are walk-in clinics and you do not need to register first," the DHB said in a Facebook post on Sunday.
Northland Event Centre is open for vaccinations from 12pm until 7pm while Kaitaia Hospital is open from 10am to 5pm.
Those who are attending are urged to bring their NHI number if they know it, along with some water and snacks in case there is a wait time.
"This will not be the only opportunity for this group to be vaccinated - further community clinics are planned shortly," the DHB said.
It advised that people who have recently received the flu vaccine need to wait 14 days before their COVID-19 vaccine.
Border workers were the first to be vaccinated in New Zealand in February (Group 1), followed by frontline workers and people living in high-risk settings (Group 2).
The priority populations - people aged 70+, people aged 65+ and people with underlying health conditions - were expected to start in May.
The remainder of the population is expected to be vaccinated from July.
However the Government's vaccine rollout has been under fire, with one leading medical expert calling it "incompetent" earlier in April.
University of Auckland medical professor Des Gorman has strongly criticised the Government, declaring "a shambles" is too generous of a description for the flawed and slow-moving system.
New Zealand also lost its number 1 ranking in the Bloomberg COVID Resilience Index, which tracks how the world's 53 biggest economies are handling the pandemic.
It is the first time since the index's launch in November that New Zealand doesn't hold the top spot.
