Māori are calling on the government to trust them to lead vaccination efforts in their communities.
Dozens of locals turned up to a Covid-19 vaccination clinic at Mõkau at the boundary of Taranaki and the Waitomo District last month, set up by Māori health provider Tui Ora. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
The disparity in Māori vaccination rates continued to grow through the last week, according to Covid vaccine rollout data from the Ministry of Health.
In the most recent seven-day period, through to Tuesday, almost one in seven New Zealanders got a jab.
But for Māori that figure was closer to one in 11.
Te Rōpū Whakakaupapa Urutā co-leader Rawiri Jansen said such figures were entirely predictable as the vaccination rollout was never set up with Māori in mind.
"We've constructed a booking system which works really well if you've got a laptop computer and fibre connection or broadband connection at home," he said.
"It works pretty good actually if you've got a nice big smartphone with a data plan. And it works really well when all these messages coming at us about when to get vaccinated and who's eligible, and all of that complexity makes sense to you and the messages resonate.
"It probably works really well if you're one of the workers who's able to work from home, so you're not an essential worker in grocery, stacking shelves. But your job has you at home so you can use that laptop and that data plan, and you can navigate the booking system and make a booking.
"You might even have a car with a warrant and gas in the tank, and you can actually drive to a centre. So you can look for a booking that's available and on the day you're good to go and get it done. Now if you don't have those things, it's hard."
Rawiri Jansen says the Covid-19 vaccination rollout was never set up with Māori in mind. Photo: LDR / Stephen Forbes
He did not buy the narrative Māoridom were vaccine hesitant or falling prey to misinformation in a way Pākehā were not.
"Actually it's about access and availability," Dr Jansen said.
"Vaccine acceptance is surging in all Māori communities. We can see here in South Auckland it's reaching 80 percent of Māori over the age of 65 are vaccinated. We can see in Cook Islands 96.5 percent of the population eligible is vaccinated. It's going to be about availability and access."
To that end district health boards had to trust Māori health providers to vaccinate their communities.
Where Māori had been in control of such efforts or provided leadership, there has been positive results, he said.
One example was the efforts of Te Kāika in Dunedin.
Chief executive Albie Laurence said in the past six days alone they had got a first dose into the arms of 10 percent of Māori in the region.
"When people come through they see a clinic that's a bit different," he said.
"It speaks to the vibrancy of our Māori population. So they come through and they see our Māori kaimahi working on the frontline and there's a bit of a different vibe to it. We're playing a lot of music that resonates with our population."
First doses:
Second doses:
But people still had to show up and that was where Te Kāika took a very different approach to officialdom - using influential rangatahi to speak to rangatahi.
"For an example having Victoria Subritzky-Nafatali, who's an ex-Black Fern and has quite a wide social media following, working on our observation area and sending out TikToks or social feeds around it. It just has a bit of different impact to that group compared to when it's someone from the government."
It also helped when rangatahi saw their peers and whānau coming forward and getting vaccinated, he said.
The Southern DHB supported their initiatives, cut red tape and trusted Te Kāika to deliver for their people. And the success showed for the whole region.
In the past seven days almost one in five people got a jab in the south.
Ethnicity and age breakdown:
Te Paati Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said the lesson was clear.
"There has been absolute dismal recognition of the uniqueness of various ethnicities and that includes, at the top, Māori. They're not hesitant - they just don't trust and there's been poor communication."
While there had been some acceptance mistakes were made and changes had been made to the government's approach, it meant they were now playing catch-up, Ngarewa-Packer said.
Whānau Ora Minister Peeni Henare yesterday said his number one message to Māori was to "come forward and make yourself available for the vaccine".
Dr Jansen said he supported that message, but the government also needed to help Māori health providers bring the vaccine to their communities.