Starting as a part-time vaccinator eight months ago, Ms Solia is now a full-time clinical manager and helps wrangle a team of 30 to 40 vaccinators at the Te Kaika Victoria Rd site, including casuals, to make sure there are four on each shift — two giving injections, one observing and one in reserve.
"It [vaccination] was quite new to me, so I did the training, then worked within a team, before taking on my current position," she said.
"It’s a really amazing team and everyone wants to help everyone else out."
One of the things which makes the Victoria Rd site special is that, especially in its earliest and busiest days, staff made sure it had almost a party atmosphere: getting a jab became an event rather than something to be endured.
"Obviously getting a vaccination is not a fun experience, so my vision was that we wanted to make it more relaxed, so there was always music going, everyone was told they needed to have a smile on their face, we had Mr Whippy come in," Ms Solia said.
Across the Southern District Health Board region 98.1% of people have had at least one dose of vaccine and 96.9% are double-vaxxed.
Not all Dunedin citizens have appreciated the efforts of Te Kaika.
The Victoria Rd centre has twice been vandalised by anti-vaxxers, something Ms Solia said had been devastating for staff.
"We were down when that happened ... it was the ... community that helped the team to keep going ... reminded them why they do what they do."
Case numbers are surging in Dunedin, regularly topping 1000 a day, but the region’s mortality rate is very low.
Vaccination was a key element in reducing the impact of Covid-19 on anyone who catches it, and the low number of deaths was something the team could take pride in, Ms Solia said.
There is still plenty of work for the team at Te Kaika and the other vaccinators around the region: many children are now due for their second doses, and 25% of the eligible southern population still need to get a booster shot.
And after goodness knows how many shots, Ms Solia has her technique down pat.
"You have to approach the person in a calm manner, talk them through the process and explain everything," she said.
"We have learned to read the people: some want you to tell them when you’re about to do it and others just want it done, and with kids in particular distraction is something we have been using quite a lot.
"There are a lot of paintings on site and we’re always saying things like ‘tell me where the monkey is’ ... but if you are calm, relaxed and confident, it’s almost always all go from there."
