Jacinda, the vaccine and a dream come true

Pania Kake had dreamed about meeting the prime minister, and an impulsive decision to get a vaccination yesterday has made that dream come true.

Jacinda Ardern arrived in Taranaki yesterday morning, and made her way around vaccination centres in the region to encourage people to get their shots.

She started at Tui Ora’s clinic at the Paritutu Bowling Club in New Plymouth, before heading to Eltham’s rural community mobile pop-up at the Taumatua Recreation Centre, and the roving mobile clinic on New Plymouth’s Tavistock and Pembroke streets.

Everywhere she went Ardern was mobbed – at a safe social distance of course – by people wanting selfies.

Kake was the first to snap a selfie with the prime minister at the bowling club.

The New Plymouth woman said she had been on the fence about being vaccinated, but stayed in a hotel recently and being surrounded by people from all over the country made her realise the risk of being unvaccinated.

So when she was driving past the bowling club yesterday and spotted a vaccination centre sign, she turned in. She was not surprised to see Ardern.

‘‘I just knew I would bump into her,’’ she said.

Kake said she had dreamed about meeting the prime minister two weeks ago and in her dream Ardern told her lockdowns were over because everyone was vaccinated.

Hayden Wano, chief executive of Ma¯ ori health and social services provider Tui Ora, said they were happy to have Ardern at the clinic.

‘‘We’ve got Super Saturday here, but it’s Super Friday for us having you here,’’ he said yesterday.

Wano told Ardern how Tui Ora had a number of initiatives in place for Super Saturday, including a vaccine party complete with a DJ.

‘‘We want to get [vaccination] rates up.’’ Ardern thanked them for their ‘‘magnificent work’’ before taking time to chat with the newly vaccinated.

‘‘This is Super Friday for me as well,’’ she said. ‘‘We want the community to be protected from Covid-19, but the way we do that is with a vaccine.’’

Bernie Edwards, a te reo Ma¯ ori teacher at the Western Institute of Technology in New Plymouth, said he’d come to the centre to set an example for his students.

As he was waiting for his jab Ardern approached him and asked if she could come with him while he got his shot.

Already a ‘‘fan’’ of the PM, Edwards

reckoned his experience would go down in history.

‘‘The prime minister was with me when I got that done. Like wow,’’ he said.

At the Tavistock St roving mobile clinic Che Yandle and his son Creedence WaakaYandle,

6, were making the most of the free icecream.

Yandle said he got his first jab on Thursday afternoon in Marfell and spent that night and yesterday morning knocking on the community’s doors to get

them down to be vaccinated.

The tenancy manager said it was all about ‘‘getting people out’’, talking about vaccinations and bringing the community together.

‘‘It’s what we do,’’ he said.