What should we call the Vaccination bus?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: - 82 comments
Categories: covid-19, health, humour, jacinda ardern, Judith Collins

The Prime Minister has sparked another national debate.  What should we call the new mobile vaccination vehicles that will be rolled out over the next week or so.

From yesterday’s press conference:

Now, there has been much talk of a Mr Whippy – style mobile vaccination bus or portable vaccinations. I’m pleased to confirm that the Northern Region Health Coordination Centre will launch its first buses this Thursday. The initial plan is to take them into areas where we know vaccination numbers have been low or people have not been able to access vaccination services as easily. The aim is to increase the network from its expected six on Thursday to 12 over the coming week. A huge thanks to Auckland Airport and Bus Travel New Zealand, who have supplied buses for this work. I know in Australia they’ve started operating something similar, and have named their mobile outreach clinics “Jabba the Bus”. I’m sure that we can do better

Early favourites include “Jabberwaka” and “Shot Bro”. Other options will no doubt surge and ebb.

Judith Collins has shown she cannot buy a trick right now by claiming that she proposed the mobile vaccination clinics last week.  Newshub has been unable to substantiate this.  National has been approached for clarification.

The vaccination programme continues to surge.  Currently 69% of the eligible population have had at least one shot.  There is still plenty of reserve in the system and in the next couple of weeks we could hit 80%.

Anyway what should we call the new vehicles?  A chocolate fish for the funniest contribution.

82 comments on “What should we call the Vaccination bus?”

Comment numbers have changed to permanent references. Older quoted numbers may no longer identify the same comment.

        2. 10.1.2.2

          Re size of the syringe in the meme … True.

          They stick that Covax needle a long way in, from looking at others getting their vaccination shots on telly, but it’s such a fine needle it’s completely painless. I never felt it. Not like getting a blood sample taken.

          Not even like my annual flu jab – where the nurses always say “sharp scratch”.

          Not looking is the way to go.

    1. 19.1

      Works for me ! 🎸

      Comes with it’s own mighty jingle.

      That takes me back. Been a while since I last listened to Live At Leeds.

      1. 19.1.1

        Went on Youtube to find Neil Young's "The Needle and the Damage Done" inspired by the tunes cited here. The compulsory advert was advertising getting vaccinations in NZ. Classic.

        2. 19.1.1.2

          Reminded me of "Just a little pin-prick…" in Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb.

          Searched it on YouTube but the obligaAd was Live Energy Drink.

  21. 21

    The Point.

    Accompanying music and colours and storyline via Harry Nillson:

    "The Point! is a fable that tells the story of a boy named Oblio, the only round-headed person in the Pointed Village, where by law everyone and everything must have a point Nilsson explained his inspiration for The Point!: "I was on acid and I looked at the trees and I realized that they all came to points, and the little branches came to points, and the houses came to point. I thought, 'Oh! Everything has a point, and if it doesn't, then there's no point to it.'"

        2. 22.1.1.2

          Kāore ki "jabber waka". In Te Reo Māori that would be; Waka Jabber, which loses the pun to Victorian English poetry, which may not be that helpful anyway (especially with allegations of Dodgson being pretty dodge; son).

          "Waka Pekepeke" or; quick vehicle, would be preferable to my ears. It has a nice assonance and avoids any mention of needles. My first thought was to emphasize the convenience aspect, but "Waka Haratau" doesn't have the same flow, and quick is close enough. Pekepeke can also mean; mountain daisy, which might be good calming imagery to associate with the service.

          He waka i te tuku rongoā āraimate (vaccination vehicle) might be more accurate, but hardly rolls off the tongue.

            2. 22.1.1.2.1.2

              Lewis Carroll was a pen-name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson's. His obsession with the pre-pubescent muse for his best known works seems rather creepy to modern eyes (and even to some at the time):

              To be a Victorian photographer, says Douglas-Fairhurst, required “the knowledge of a chemist, the eye of an artist, and the patience of a saint”. The craft suited Dodgson, and the art inspired Carroll. He could prolong his fascination with childhood by photographing little girls, ideally in the nude. “A girl of about 12,” he wrote towards the end of his life, “is my ideal beauty of form.” In words of pre-Freudian innocence, he could never see “why the lovely forms of girls should ever be covered up”…

              Carroll, asked if children ever bored him, replied simply: “They are three-fourths of my life.” Pretty eight-year-old Alice, especially, captivated the young man.

              https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/22/the-story-of-alice-robert-douglas-fairhurst-lewis-carroll-alice-liddell

  23. 23

    Collins gets an uncharacteristic easy ride interview on RNZ this morning – & although, among other comments, airily still insisting that Wiles (as opposed to her friend) was somehow in the wrong, & while still flogging the long-dead dead horse that big fat hypocrite is everyday discourse in NZ – manages I think not to significantly disgrace herself any further.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018812388/judith-collins-standing-by-siouxsie-wiles-comments

    “Crush The Covid” is her favourite name suggestion for the vaxbus. 🙄

  24. 24

    Join Us – and have large photos of jabbed NZ sport, cultural, entertainment etc. stars all over the bus,. Make sure the photos include a charismatic figure for every age and socioeconomic demographic in our population.

    Make it cool and patriotic to get jabbed.

  25. 25

    Why does it matter whether Collins suggested the idea last week or not? Does she honestly expect us to believe that Northern Region Health heard Judith say it seven days ago and have in the short time since then got it all organised from scratch so it is ready to go on the road tomorrow? Clearly this must have been in the works for much longer than that.

  27. 27

    The Bubble Bus

    The Bloomfield Bus

    The Anti-Boris Bus

    How Buzarre

    The Kiwi Defender

    The All Jabs

    The Jab-Do

    All Shots Are On The House

    Bus To The Future

    Buzzy Bee

    1. 30.1

      That'd be lost on most under 50.

      Like in Simpsons when Adam west laments about the good old days with robin….Bart's response 'who the hell is robin man !'

      I see across the ditch 'Jim's jabs' as Jim looks to extend his mowing empire further.

  37. 37

    Well, there are the updateable versions:

    The Delta Devastator
    The Epsilon Exterminator
    The Phi fighter

    or the simple Covid Buster.

    1. 47.1

      From this image from an RNZ “live updates” section, which says the buses are being blessed – it looks like they may have decided on the name

      Unless they have four buses & they might all have different individual names?

  48. 48

    I often enjoy Ben Uffindell’s satirical efforts: 😀

    “The Government is dealing with a Covid outreach debacle today, after the decision to put the naming of New Zealand’s vaccination bus service to a social media poll backfired, when users across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram voted narrowly to name the service ‘The Murder Wagon.'”
    …
    http://www.thecivilian.co.nz/covid-outreach-disaster-as-online-poll-sees-vaccination-bus-named-the-murder-wagon/

    1. 48.1

      …
      ” …The first murder wagon was blessed at a ceremony this morning attended by Auckland mayor Phil Goff, before it was sent out into the community, where it has already triggered several calls to police.

      Despite the name emerging from a public vote, the Government is being criticized for “stealing ideas” by Level 4 opposition leader Judith Collins, who pointed out that “The Murder Wagon” was actually the nickname of her 2020 campaign bus.”

Comments are closed.