A COVID-19 vaccinator has posted an emotional video onto social media revealing she was threatened by a parent who said "they're going to take me for a good ride" if anything happened to their child.
Hanibrez Sipu, who is a registered nurse and COVID-19 vaccinator in Paihia, posted an emotional video onto TikTok on Thursday that has been viewed more than 63,000 times.
Sipu revealed that she finished work early after a parent of a child being vaccinated threatened her.
"The parent of this person who I vaccinated threatened me," she said.
"Now this person told me that if anything happened to their child, they're going to take me for a good ride.
"That doesn't sit right with me, not at all, that's not ok. It's not ok to threaten vaccinators in general."
Sipu said she knows fellow vaccinators who have also been threatened and pleaded with people to be kind and not "shoot the messenger".
"I know this is happening all over the country," she said emotionally on TikTok.
"I've known of a few people that have been threatened. It's not our fault, we are doing our job. Don't shoot the messenger.
"I've tried to record myself many times but I've had no success without crying. So I am upset, I'm so upset, I'm so angry, that is not ok to threaten people when they're just trying to do their job. It's not ok and we need to bring more awareness to this."
Sipu told TVNZ's Breakfast on Monday she thought about not giving the child the vaccine but because the threat was not from the child, she administered it.
"I was really upset but I held myself, I have to, I can't get upset in front of anybody.
"I sat in my lunchroom and then broke down," she said.
Later, in the waiting room, the child apologised to Sipu for their parent's comments.
