Thursday, 14 October 2021

Foodstuffs North Island is mobilising its stores, team members and friends to back the Government’s call to get vaccinated this ‘Super Saturday’.

Saturday 16th October will be the start of a weeklong focused effort by the co-operative to support the Government’s goal to deliver hundreds of thousands of vaccinations into the arms of eligible New Zealanders who have not yet had their first or second shot.

Working closely with the Government, District Health Boards and local community groups, Foodstuffs North Island has pulled out all the stops to deliver a programme that will support vaccine take-up across key areas that have to date been harder to reach.

Commenting on Foodstuffs North Island’s role in supporting Super Saturday, Foodstuffs North Island CEO Chris Quin said the Government has set a huge target of half a million vaccinations over the course of the week, and everyone across the 24,000 team-member co-operative was proud to be able to play a part in supporting an initiative unlike anything New Zealand has seen before. 

“We made a commitment to be Here for NZ and made a promise to support our communities to thrive.  As part of our support for the country’s first-ever Vaxathon, many of our stores will become vaccination sites with our store owners working hand-in-hand with local groups to help protect their communities. Other stores are providing incentives to help encourage people to get a vaccination". 

“We will have a lot of special things for people who get vaccinated, we should all do it because it’s the right thing to do for New Zealand, but these prizes might just create the reason to do it now!"

“Throughout this pandemic our goal has been to keep people safe and keep products on the shelves.  Supporting Super Saturday, and beyond, is a measure of our care and concern for our people, their families, our customers and the community in general. Making it quicker and easier for our team members and shoppers to get a vaccine is the right thing to do - it’s how we awhi each other.”