Greater Wellington says hat’s off to Wellingtonian of the Year Teresea Olsen for working tirelessly to boost COVID
vaccination rates in the region to help keep vulnerable communities as safe as possible.
“Teresea and the Kokiri Marae Keriana Olsen Trust worked tirelessly, and notably in helping Metlink get its Delta Buster
bus on the road to provide an eye-catching mobile, community focused, pop-up vaccination centre,” says Greater
Wellington Chair Daran Ponter.
“It’s a well-deserved honour and rightful recognition from the people of Wellington of a fabulous achievement. If we had
such an award, she’d be Greater Wellingtonian of the year, too.
“Her energy, enthusiasm and commitment to supporting vulnerable communities was outstanding and obviously played a big
role in ensuring the region exceeded a 90 per cent vaccination rate.”
The key to success hinged on making vaccination easy. One aspect of her achievement was building on free travel to and
from vaccinations that Metlink already had in place across the region, ensuring the Delta Buster was able to get to hard
to reach communities.
“Thanks significantly to strong and targeted communications from the trust that pinpointed where and when vaccination
would be available, we were able to provide a vaccination option for people who otherwise may have missed out,” says Cr
Ponter.
As Teresa Olsen said at the time “we know that it’s hard for some whānau to get around and make appointments so we want
to take the leg work out for them with this mobile based service. Having a uniquely Hutt styled bus should help give us
visibility in the community and encourage more people to get vaccinated,” said Teresea Olsen.