A Maōri researcher says a new focus on Covid-19 boosters is needed as vaccination rates stagnate.
Vaccination centre Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Dr Rawiri Taonui said iwi and Māori health providers were now focused on helping whānau with Covid.
"There's so much effort going into supporting whānau who are isolating at home and things like that, that efforts in vax are slowing down," he said.
"So there's been really big gaps in terms of full vaccination, boosted vaccination and the tamariki vaccine rollout. Now those gaps are narrowing, but the rate at which they are narrowing has become very, very slow."
Formerly a professor of indigenous studies at Canterbury, AUT, and Massey Universities, Taonui retired at the end of 2018, but since April 2020 has been independently researching and writing about Covid, after noticing the daily briefings "didn't tell a Māori story".
He said during the Delta variant outbreak Māori had the highest number of cases 76 days out of 78, but had been doing much better with the Omicron variants.
Dr Rawiri Taonui Photo: Supplied
"But at the moment we've got the highest number of new cases per 100,000 population and that's also translating into the highest rate of active cases in the community."
"Those two things go to the potential, if there's a second wave, for our numbers to grow suddenly."
Taonui said the Māori share of hospitalisation was starting to rise and that would impact disproportionally.
"As Māori we're three times more likely to be hospitalised than Pākehā, and if we're hospitalised we're 1.3 times more likely to die than a Pākehā person."
"It's really, really important that we focus in on vaccinations again - particularly boosters and tamariki, especially in case we get a new variant across the border."
Māori had suffered just 13 percent of Omicron deaths, despite being 17 percent of the population, largely because of high rates of kaumātua vaccination.
But there were other concerns.
"We are 50 percent of deaths under 60 [years old], partly because a Māori person aged about 50 has the same risk of dying as a Pākehā aged about 65-70."
Partly that was due to comorbidities such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
Waning protection from booster vaccinations was also a worry.
"Within about two months you've got 90 percent protection against being hospitalised but after four months that's dropped to about 80 and will keep dropping."
Omicron-specific vaccines were in the pipeline but Taonui expected a second booster would be available for some before new vaccines arrived in New Zealand.
He said meanwhile good Covid tikanga such as mask-wearing and no hongi could help suppress Omicron's spread.
"It's really important that we keep holding tangihanga on marae, because if we don't people will just hold them at home, and the ability to keep good protocols - not hongi, social distancing - that's harder to control in that environment and you'll get more spread."
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air