Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was again forced to alter plans after protesters disrupted a news conference in Whanganui today.
Ardern is promoting the Covid-19 vaccination rollout in the upper North Island and said she wasn't surprised at the level of hostility towards and wouldn't take it personally.
She had to cancel a 12.45pm media briefing after about 250 protesters gathered outside a vaccination centre she planned to visit, blocking the entrance. The stand-up was subsequently held elsewhere.
Auckland is at the centre of the Delta outbreak, with the majority of cases, and has been in alert level 4 and 3 restrictions since mid-August. The coronavirus has spread to neighbouring North Island regions Northland and Waikato, and in Christchurch in the South Island.
Ardern has warned lower-vaccinated regions that the Government would not be able to contain the Delta outbreak in Auckland indefinitely, so they should get vaccinated before it spread more widely.
There are 100 new cases of Covid-19 in the community today - 97 in Auckland and three in Waikato. There are no new cases in Northland or Christchurch.
She said she was in the area to encourage people to get vaccinated and it became counterproductive if people behaved in a way that stopped people's access to the clinic.
"A decision was made that it wasn't practical if the idea was to get people vaccinated, to have an environment where people were blocked from doing so."
When asked about yesterday's protest in Northland, at which she was heckled, Ardern said she wouldn't define it as a formal protest.
There were no plans to stop visiting communities and she would "continue on".
Ardern said the purpose of the visits was to speak with providers on the ground to thank them and find out what they could to do support their work, as well as gaining an understanding about what helped those people now getting vaccinated change their minds.
Whanganui MP Steph Lewis and Te Tai Hauauru MP Adrian Rurawhe turned up the clinic today, but swiftly left as the group of protesters grew. Whanganui-based National List MP Harete Hipango also showed up, but left after about 10 minutes.
Protesters also confronted media, accusing journalists of being paid off by the Government. There was a significant police presence.
Whanganui has the third lowest vaccination rate of the district health boards - 81 per cent of its eligible population have had one dose and 61 per cent have had two.
Heckled in Northland
Ardern was in Northland yesterday just before the Far North went into lockdown after two new Covid cases were picked up in Kaingaroa, near Taipa in Doubtless Bay.
The inability to find a possible link with other cases in the outbreak prompted the decision to put the top of the region into level 3 restrictions for six days.
At Kawakawa, well south of the lockdown area. Ardern heckled by anti-vaxxers, forcing her to abandon a media briefing outdoors and move inside.
The Government is still pursing elimination strategy outside of Auckland, while it waits for vaccination rates to lift.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has said that if Northland's vaccination rate was higher, it might not have required the level 3 lockdown, but there was a lot of mis-information circulating in the region.
