Calls grow for easing of lockdowns to be based on Māori vaccination rate

September 22, 2021

It comes amid calls for any loosening of covid rules to be based on the vaccination rate of Māori, rather than the general public.

There are growing calls for any loosening of lockdown restrictions nationwide, such as fewer lockdowns and the reopening of borders, to be based on the vaccination rate of Māori rather than the general public.

Officials are eyeing up a 90 per cent vaccination target before easing Covid restrictions long term, but some are questioning who the target is measured against.

Te Ātiawa chief executive Dion Tuuta argued there’s “no point of Aotearoa reaching 90 per cent vaccination if 50 per cent of the Māori community is not vaccinated”.

It comes as Auckland celebrated a significant vaccine milestone on Wednesday, with 80 per cent of the city’s eligible population now having at least one Covid-19 jab.

Free breakfast butties were served up in Taranaki in a bid to entice locals to get the shot. The Taranaki DHB has one of the lowest vaccination rates nationwide - a worry for local Māori.

“It'll be them that suffer if it comes back out in the community,” Tuuta said.

“We need to have higher Māori rates of vaccination coverage and percentages and we need to improve on inequity there as well,” Taranaki DHB’s Bevan Clayton-Smith added.

While three-quarters of those eligible have had at least one dose, for Māori, the figure is 52 per cent - a 23-point gap. If the same gap was applied at 90 per cent, the percentage of Māori vaccinated would sit at 67 per cent.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said he would like to see vaccination coverage of “90 per cent and above”, adding that it is “very important that we have an across the board high vaccination rate”.

Free bacon butties are served up to people getting their Covid-19 jabs in Taranaki.

But Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi says “if we're the most unvaccinated peoples in this country, the benchmark must be based on those communities”.

Not everyone agrees, however.

“We have to make a trade-off between the costs of lockdown, which fall on all people, and the costs of vaccination rates not being high enough,” ACT Party leader David Seymour said.

While the Government has continually refused to set a specific target, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday issued a goal for Auckland.

“Let's see if we can get to 90 per cent by the time that Cabinet considers our Alert Level 3 settings in two weeks’ time,” she said.

Ardern acknowledged on Wednesday that all communities must get to 90 per cent or above to allow for long-term easing of lockdown restrictions.

“It matters whether or not our rural communities have good numbers, our Māori communities, our Pacific communities - we don't want to leave people behind.”

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