Covid-19: Māori leaders brace for impact as Government continues to ignore vaccine priority call

Thursday, 14 October 2021

Associate minister of health Peeni Henare spoke in Christchurch on Tuesday about Māori vaccination rates.

Vulnerable communities are facing the fallout of the Government's vaccine roll-out and Māori will be hit the hardest, leaders say.

For months, Māori health professionals, iwi leaders, disability advocates and data experts have been calling for vaccine prioritisation, but as the Delta variant continues to engulf Tāmaki Makaurau, time is running out.

Across Tāmaki, at least 20 marae and 80 Māori leaders joined a Zoom hui to pull together a strategy aimed at combating the inequities facing their whanaunga ahead of this weekend’s Vaxathon.

Māori leaders say they can't wait for the Government to save their people, they have to do it themselves.

The slow crawl by the Crown to listen to health experts and community leaders has been to the detriment of the most vulnerable, they say.

Cars lined up at Wharekawa Marae in Kaiaua for Covid tests when a positive case surfaced in the community in September.

* Covid-19: Officials to advise if third dose is needed for immunocompromised Kiwis

* Government’s Covid-19 response is a breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Māori health experts say

Top of the south Māori health leader Ditre Tamatea says there are lessons to be learned from the 1918 flu pandemic. (First published October 14, 2021)

Eddie Manukau, kaiwhakahaere of Wharekawa Marae, said Māori communities were struggling to support their people as the Government’s under resourcing leaves them hamstrung.

Manukau was at the centre of the potential Upper Hauraki outbreak when a Covid-19-positive man entered the Kaiaua community in September.

The Delta variant quickly spread to children, sparking concerns an outbreak was imminent.

Children make up 17.5 per cent of those infected with Covid-19 in the latest outbreak, Ministry of Health data shows.

Materoa Mar, manager of Te Tihi o Ruahine WhÄnau Ora Alliance, says MÄori are ready to help whÄnau get through another lockdown.

If Kaiaua’s case had got out of hand the way it has in Auckland, the community would have been devastated, Manukau said.

“It’s really hard for the wider populace to understand what’s happening for our Māori communities.

“At 1 o’clock every day we listen to the reports of what's happening across the country, but there’s no Māori lens.”

The roll-out has failed to act swiftly enough on ideas from Māori, Manukau said, which has put Māori communities at risk.

“Obviously there are opportunities that we’ve come up with, like ‘Shot bro’, but from what I understand they’ve been asking for that for the last two to three lockdowns. It’s been a very slow response.”

New Zealand is calling on the World Health Organization (WHO) and governments to prioritise health improvements for indigenous people worldwide.

Materoa Mar, chief executive of iwi health provider Te Tihi o Ruahine Whānau Ora Alliance in Palmerston North, said she’s given up trying to explain the vulnerabilities of Māori to the Crown.

Māori have the lowest first vaccination rate of just 60 per cent, and now Māori must do it on their own, she said. “We know how to tackle this.”

“I spend my energy on things that are going to take us forward because that’s a trap, I’d rather get on with it.

“We've waited before, so I just think, no. Hell might freeze over.”

Hei Āhuru Mōwai, the national Māori cancer leadership network, sent a list of 10 equity requirements to Government ministers on Thursday.

It called for vaccine prioritisation for Māori with cancer, as those who are immunocompromised faced even greater risk of death.

Dr Rawiri McKree Jansen, clinical director, of the National Hauora Coalition would have liked to have seen the surplus doses sent somewhere like Fiji.

Hei Āhuru Mōwai chief executive Moahuia Goza said Māori cancer patients will bear the brunt of the fallout.

“Māori have the highest cancer inequities in normal times, the longer Delta is in Aotearoa and uncontrolled, the more likely those inequities worsen. Every Covid vaccination protocol and every cancer control activity must prioritise Māori first.”

It will become a domino effect as the vaccine roll-out prioritises vaccinating 90 per cent the population.

Auckland surgeon Professor Jonathan Koea, a member of Hei Āhuru Mōwai, implored the Government to change focus from vaccinating the wider New Zealand population to prioritising Māori.

“Due to generations of inequity in the health system, Māori enter this pandemic lagging non-Māori in all measures of health outcomes.

“Covid has widened this outcome deficit even further. Now, at the time of a national emergency, is the time for the ministry and the Government to listen to Māori, commit to working with Māori and empower Māori to close this gap.”

This push follows months of calls from Māori health professionals.

Māori Women's Welfare League national president Prue Kapua says the Government has failed Māori.

Dr Rawiri Jansen, co-chair of Te Rōpū Whakakaupapa Urutā – the National Māori Pandemic Group – quit his position on the Government’s expert immunisation advisory group in March after his concerns for Māori health outcomes were only heard and not acted on by the nation’s leaders.

Despite these priority calls and low vaccine rates, the priority schedule has remained.

Ministry of Health group manager of equity Tamati Sheppard-Wipiiti said it was committed to fulfilling the obligations of Te Tiriti o Waitangi by working with iwi providers to ensure the vaccine was as accessible as possible for Māori.

“Immunocompromised people have a higher risk of getting a serious infection if exposed to Covid-19, so receiving two doses of the Pfizer vaccine is a safe and effective way to reduce this risk.

“Whānau who are undergoing treatment for cancer are encouraged to discuss the vaccine with their oncologist or primary care provider who can answer any questions they may have.”

But Māori Women’s Welfare League president Prue Kapua said the Government has failed at every turn to uphold the Treaty.

Kapua said the Crown has had plenty of time to take on Māori expert advice, but it chose not to.

The Crown knows Māori have poorer healthcare, socioeconomic status, trust in the government and health outcomes, the roll-out has failed to listen to tangata whenua, Kapua said.

“Whatever way you look at it, right from the outset they should have been taking the advice that we need to be prioritising Māori.

“They took a Eurocentric approach and now they’re playing catch-up. The only reason it’s happening now is because we’re in a state of panic.”

Sheppard-Wipiiti said a technical advisory group was considering a third dose of the vaccine for immunocompromised people, a strategy Goza would support if Māori were prioritised first.

But the resources shifted towards these efforts without putting Māori vaccination at the forefront of its strategy will increase inequitable health outcomes for Māori, and takes away from other health services such as diagnosis and surgeries, Goza said.

As lockdowns continue, access to primary care, early diagnosis, surgery and treatment declines for Māori, she said.

Māori have a 20 per cent higher rate of cancer, and are twice as likely to die of cancer, Goza said. Without increasing resources to assist Māori getting the vaccine, or services relating to cancer diagnosis and treatments, Māori are put even more at risk of death.

“Māori are vulnerable, but Māori cancer patients are more vulnerable, and those with chronic conditions.

“One in three whānau will know a cancer patient. They are immunocompromised. The longer Delta is in Aotearoa, the more we will have lower diagnosis.”

Associate Minister for Health (Māori Health) Peeni Henare and Health Minister Chris Hipkins were approached for comment.