Iwi trains own vaccinators
Unhappy with the Covid-19 vaccination rollout to Ma¯ori in the region, South Taranaki iwi Nga¯ti Ruanui has taken on the task itself.
A South Taranaki iwi has trained its own vaccination team which will start a door-to-door vaccine drive this weekend, saying the Government roll-out has failed Ma¯ori.
Te Pa¯ti Ma¯ori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, also a leader of Nga¯ti Ruanui, is one of the team of 12 iwi members who were trained by Dr Rawiri McKree Jansen, of Auckland, on Thursday.
And from today the team will be going door-to-door and using mobile clinics in an attempt to boost Ma¯ori vaccination rates in the area. Only 38.9 per cent of Taranaki Ma¯ori are fully vaccinated – six per cent behind the national Ma¯ori average and the second-worst percentage in the country, Ngarewa-Packer said. By comparison, the total rate of full vaccination within the region’s eligible population is 58.7 per cent, while the rate for Pacific people is 54.1 per cent.
‘‘I totally hold the Government and the DHB responsible for this mess,’’ Ngarewa-Packer said. ‘‘They have left it to the eleventh hour. Auckland’s elimination strategy is finished, Aucklanders will
‘‘It’s important that all of our communities are well-supported in understanding Covid and having any questions answered about the vaccine.’’ Dr Rawiri Jansen National Hauora Coalition clinical director
be coming out, and two-thirds of Ma¯ori in Taranaki are not vaccinated, and we have Covid on our back door.’’
Ngarewa-Packer said it was critical to adopt models that were working to get Ma¯ori vaccinated elsewhere around the country.
‘‘We have asked Dr Rawiri Jansen to come down and teach us how to vaccinate, and we will then go out in scale, go out to the wha¯nau and to the streets and be able to dig away at those numbers.’’
She said iwi members were contending with a lot of fear, but it wasn’t necessarily anti vaccination.
‘‘It [the messaging] has all been very official, very Government, and sadly, our wha¯nau don’t respond well to that, they have low trust and there has been very low uptake, really, they have been doing it wrong.’’
The 12 iwi vaccinators were assessed at a workshop, which included practising by injecting Jansen with saline solution.
Jansen is the clinical director of the National Hauora Coalition – a network of 55 GP practices, serving over 220,000 patients across five District Health Boards – and he has been running workshops across the country.
‘‘It’s important that all of our communities are well-supported in understanding Covid and having any questions answered about the vaccine.
‘‘There won’t be a single king hit, the work we are doing today won’t solve all of our problems, there are a lot of things we have to do,’’ he said on Thursday.
‘‘How do we reach communities and inspire them to getting vaccinated?’’
Rukutai Watene is another of the newlytrained vacci
nation assistants and was inspired to get involved having looked to the past.
‘‘I’m willing to help because we have a big mound in our cemetery full of people that died during the flu epidemic of 1918. They didn’t have a chance back then, but we have a chance now, but our people are not taking it. We have to make sure we get that message across.’’
Nga¯ti Ruanui has been critical of the Taranaki District Health Board’s (TDHB) Covid-19 response from the start, claiming it wasn’t funnelling
money or resources through to iwi providers in South Taranaki.
Criticism has also come at ministerial level, with both Minister of Health Andrew Little and Associate Minister of Health Peeni Henare airing their disappointment about Ma¯ori vaccination rates within some DHB areas.
At a press conference this week, Henare named the region as an area where the Government had stepped in because Ma¯ori and iwi health providers were dissatisfied with the DHB.
And in an interview with Newsroom, Little said it was hard not to conclude Ma¯ori had been failed by the DHB when looking at the slow uptake in the likes of Taranaki, and Taira¯whiti.
He said it appeared there was a poor ‘‘relationship between the DHB and relevant local Ma¯ori health organisations’’ in Taranaki.
To help boost Ma¯ori rates, the Government announced yesterday another $120 million in funding.
The money will be bypassing DHBs and going directly to organisations and providers targeting Ma¯ori.
TDHB Covid-19 vaccination programme senior responsible officer Bevan Clayton-Smith said a lot of work had been going into the region’s roll-out, including Ma¯ori vaccination.
‘‘We have moved mountains in the past six weeks and increased our numbers by 70 per cent and there have been some good uptakes by Ma¯ori since Super Saturday.’’
The DHB is already working with Te Aranga [the Covid response arm of the eight Taranaki iwi], Nga¯ti Ruanui and Nga¯ruahine, to increase Ma¯ori vaccination rates, he said.
‘‘It’s just that communication. We have always been talking, on an operational level, our nursing staff to their nursing staff, manager to manager, on that ground level response hasn’t changed. Other work is in place at all levels.’’
And boosting the region’s vaccination rate is now more important than ever.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a traffic light system will replace the alert level programme when all DHBs reach a 90 per cent vaccination rate within the eligible population.
Taranaki has had the worst rate in the country since the start of the rollout. And while the first dose rate is no longer at the bottom, currently sitting at 80.8 per cent, Taranaki still has the worst rate for full vaccination – at 58.65 per cent, just behind Taira¯whiti on 58.70.
Nationally the first dose rate is 85 per cent, and 65 per cent are fully vaccinated. The national rate for Ma¯ori is 66 per cent while just under 45 per cent are double-dosed.
To get the first dose rate beyond the 90 per cent mark about 9300 more people need to have their first jab, then it’s about getting a second jab for all those who have only had one.
Clayton-Smith is confident the region will get there.
Once all these people return for their second, the region would be much further up the list, he said.
The most important issue was simply that people needed to get vaccinated, he said.
‘‘Don’t trust Covid, trust the vaccine, embrace it and what it’s going to allow you to do, although I’d really prefer people get vaccinated for the health benefits rather than because of the restrictions.’’
Tui Ora chief executive Hayden Wano is also confident the region’s roll-out is in hand.
The Ma¯ori health provider has been instrumental in the roll-out in northern and coastal Taranaki, and Wano is adamant Ma¯ori in the region could hit 95 per cent fully-vaccinated by year’s end.
Wano told RNZ a new collaborative approach between Te Aranga, the region’s three Ma¯ori health providers, and the DHB would help them achieve that goal.