Māori health leaders say the lives of their people are literally at stake as Auckland Covid-19 case numbers threaten to get out of control.
Dangerously low Māori vaccination figures and their vulnerability to the disease has experts worried they will become collateral damage after the government steered Tāmaki Makaurau away from an elimination strategy.
More than half of the city's 71 positive cases announced yesterday are Māori, yet only four in 10 Māori across the motu are fully vaccinated.
Te Rōpū Whakakaupapa Urutā - the National Māori Pandemic Group co-lead Professor Papaarangi Reid spoke to Corin Dann.