16 Sep 2021

Covid-19: Vaccination solutions should be Māori led - Māori health leaders

From Morning Report, 8:10 am on 16 September 2021

Māori health leaders say they need input in the design of solutions to get more people vaccinated against Covid-19, as the rollout looks to reach people who have so far been unable to get a shot.

Vaccination buses are hitting the streets on Thursday in parts of Auckland in an urgent attempt to boost vaccination rates Covid-19.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said she wants to see 80 percent of eligible Aucklanders with at least one dose by Monday.

Details of the buses are under wraps, but Henderson and Papakura are among the areas that will get a visit.

Papakura GP Matire Harwood, who is involved with the drive through centre at Papakura Marae, told Morning Report they have had to be creative with some of the needs at the centre.

"We had a young girl yesterday who'd skateboarded across town to come to our drive through vaccination clinic."

Skateboards were not one of the options for the drive through, but Papakura Marae chief executive Tony Kake said a solution was found.

"We put one of our staff fully PPE'ed up like she was a taxi driver, put her in a car and she came through the vaccination drive through."

Waipareira trust chief executive John Tamihere said the current options had not been designed with a focus on pacific and iwi needs.

"All programs are designed for middle class white New Zealanders and so we just have to step back a bit and allow us to get into the game of designing these things."

The trust runs a vaccination centre in Henderson.

Harwood agreed and said it's imperative Māori lead programmes that will affect them.

"The solutions have been led by people who don't know our context, who don't know our whānau, who don't understand some of the reasons that they can't get in for vaccinations.

"We've had to come up with it ourselves and continue to not only fight for our whānau, fight the system to be able to do this properly."