Tairāwhiti iwi are tapping into their competitive spirit to drive up vaccination rates on the East Coast.
Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Toitu Tairāwhiti, which is made up of the leaders of the region's four iwi Ngai Tāmanuhiri, Ngati Porou, Rongowhakaata and Te Aitanga A Mahaki, have come up with Top of the Shots.
The marae with the most vaccinated whānau in both Gisborne and up the coast will get $10,000 each to use on whatever they want.
About 12,000 people in the region are yet to have their first vaccination.
Toitu Tairāwhiti communications coordinator Rawinia Parata said the region had a natural competitiveness, so it made sense to have a competition like this.
"The other idea is to remember that this Covid vaccination situation the whole country is in is also about connection and we are not more connected than we are to our marae and then to each other.
"It's sort of a reminder that our decisions particularly around vaccinations affects each other," she said.
Parata said this week Ngāti Porou Hauora had been running vaccination clinics in the East Coast community.
"Our best action is to be preventative and vaccination is the only way that our region would be able to manage this particular pandemic in our region," Parata said.
"Te Tairāwhiti suffers from high levels of isolation and it's no secret that our health providers are understaffed and under-resourced."
Only those who have had both vaccine doses can enter on the Toitu Tairāwhiti website and fill in the marae comp form with their NHI number and which marae they would like to allocate points too.