The Ministry of Health has doubled down in not granting access to Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency data on the vaccination status of Māori - despite a high court ruling urging the Ministry to reconsider.
The agency has been seeking contact details for all unvaccinated Māori in the North Island so it can target areas with low uptake, when it embarks on a vaccination drive.
In a letter to the North Island commissioning agency, Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the ministry's view is that if they released that breadth of data it would not be effective in other areas, due to variations in Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency coverage.
Māori news director Māni Dunlop spoke to Guyon Espiner.
