Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is in Northland with Māori Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis as the government announces the first round of funding the rollout of Māori vaccine initiatives.
ardern davis Photo: RNZ/Rebekah Parsons-King
Davis, Associate Health (Māori health) Minister Peeni Henare and Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson this morning announced eight Māori and iwi organisations had been approved for $23.3 million from the government's $120m Māori Communities Covid-19 fund.
Half the $120m fund is earmarked for boosting Māori vaccination rates, with the other half going towards Māori and iwi-led initiatives to protect communities against the virus, and was announced just over a week ago at the same time as the traffic light system that will replace alert levels.
The eight groups approved for funding are:
- Te Tai Tokerau ($4.6 million): Support for iwi and marae communities, mobile vaccination clinics, events for rangatahi, targeted communications and an 0800 call centre. Focus on Kaikohe, Ōtangarei, Raumanga and Kaitāia east and west.
- Tāmaki Makaurau ($1.8 million): Funding for mobile vaccination clinics, wānanga, clinical staffing and health promotion resources. Priority groups include rangatahi, hard to reach whānau who are vaccine hesitant, kura kaupapa and bilingual schools.
- Waikato-Waiariki ($4.95 million): Funding to reach isolated whānau and communities including transport, mobile vaccination clinics, addressing vaccine hesitation, and community outreach and events.
- North Island - ($5 million): Extension of existing funding for the Whanāu Ora Commissioning Agency including vaccination programme, providing vaccine delivery and pastoral support across more than 80 Whānau Ora providers. Also incentives and activities for rangatahi, whānau and Māori communities.
- Taranaki ($1.3 million): Funding for eight iwi in Taranaki to increase trained vaccinators, recruit nurses, and kaiārahi to set up vaccine centres, mobile clinics to increase access, events for hard-to-reach whānau and communications.
- Heretaunga ($2.2 million): Building on successful vaccine mobilisation and events to address accessibility issues, facing Māori in the rohe; transport, mobile vaccine clinics, community champions, events and incentives, particularly targeting rangatahi as 50 percent of the rohe Māori population is 10-29 years.
- Whanganui ($2.8 million): Funding for iwi covering Southern Taranaki, Rangitīkei and Ruapehu district for community resilience and vaccination response including data capture of Māori vaccination rates; mobile outreach and vaccine incentives, and events and communication of information and community engagement to reduce misinformation.
- Te Waipounamu ($0.69 million): Funding to accelerate Māori vaccinations and build on the previous work of Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu Whānau Ora agency including vaccination clinics, events, mobile outreach, food distribution, communication and removing barriers to vaccination. All of South Island and targeted initiatives to Invercargill, Alexandra, Ōtautahi and Te Tai Poutini.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said Māori have accounted for about 40 percent to 50 percent of cases in the Delta outbreak in recent weeks, and Māori have had lower vaccination rates than the rest of the population.
About 70 percent of the Māori population have now had one dose of the vaccine, with 53 percent for second doses.
This has raised concerns about the government's plans to lower some restrictions in central Auckland, and the risk that could pose to Māori.
Davis said local solutions were the way to reach Māori with the vaccination message.
"There are an army of volunteers, iwi and Māori organisations already working hard on this mahi and with the funding provided their efforts will be supercharged."
More approvals for the first phase of the fund, focused on vaccination rates, will be considered by a ministerial oversight group this week.
Meanwhile, the High Court has ordered the Ministry of Health to urgently reconsider its refusal to share Māori Covid-19 vaccine information with a Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency.
The ministry had held back the data over privacy concerns, but the judge ruled the risk to Māori communities trumped that.