Covid-19: More Pākehā are unvaccinated but Māori are being stigmatised

Friday, 5 November 2021

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While Māori are facing increasing pressure from the public to get vaccinated, figures show the ethnic group with the highest number of unvaccinated people is Pākehā.

Ministry of Health data revealed more than 260,000 Pākehā, recorded under the European/Other ethnicity band, were unvaccinated on November 2. That total was almost double the number of unvaccinated Māori, which sits at 140,000.

The 35 to 64-year-old age group was nearly three times more than Māori. But the numbers are closer in 12 to 34-year olds, 120,000 Pākehā and Māori, 94,000. Half the eligible Māori population is aged 12 to 34-years.

Of the Pākehā total, the most at-risk group 65+ number 21,000 compared to 1800 Māori.

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Dr Matire Harwood says there has been no central leadership to stop Māori bearing the brunt of the nation's frustration about the unvaccinated.

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South Auckland GP and Auckland University Associate Professor Dr Matire Harwood was shocked by the unvaccinated numbers for Pākehā.

She’s been so focused on raising Māori vaccine rates, she never took notice of unvaccinated Pākehā numbers , until now.

The narrative that Māori were the unvaccinated across the nation was unfair, she said, and was empowering some to be bold in their racism.

Harwood works with the Papakura Marae Health Centre, and has been fielding vaccination questions and helping Covid-positive whānau as the virus spreads across Auckland.

Professor Paul Spoonley says painting Māori as the unvaccinated is creating stigma.

As well as receiving aggressive emails from people lashing out at Māori who were undecided about the vaccine, she has seen racism hurled at whānau in her community.

She said the representation of Māori across the media and the Government has given people ammunition to attack unvaccinated Māori.

“We’re being stigmatised while everyone’s celebrating 90 per cent for the population.”

Those in positions of power could have been the leaders and changed the narrative, but they didn’t, Harwood said, and now a surge of resentment towards Māori was coming.

“I do worry. We have been a team of 5 million and that’s worked, but I’m concerned we’re not going to get that back.”

Massey University sociologist Professor Paul Spoonley said those who were blaming Māori had misplaced their anger.

“I think some of the impressions about Māori being anti-vax are because some of the spokespeople, like Brian Tamaki and Billy T K, are very visible.”

He said groups against the vaccine had been popping up, but they were mainly Pākehā-led with differing reasons for their views.

The vaccine roll-out is continuing across the country.

“We can understand why Māori might have a mistrust because of their colonial history, but there are also a significant number of Pākehā who have a mistrust in the Government,” Spoonley said.

“When you look at these far right groups, I’m not seeing Māori, I’m seeing Pākehā who are disgruntled and disenfranchised by the Government.”

Spoonley said they presented a huge public health risk to the community by not being vaccinated due to their high numbers, but given the higher Pākehā population, it was likely their communities would get to 90 per cent without them.

Professor Michael Baker says the undecided largely face the same issues as each other when deciding to take the vaccine.

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Pākehā or European/Other make up 65.36 per cent of the overall eligible population, the largest group, and majority being of European descent. The Ministry of Health doesn’t separate the ‘Other’ ethnicities because it wouldn’t be practical.

If you haven’t had a Covid-19 jab yet, you may be worried about side effects in the long term.

Although there is a low per cent of European/Other who haven’t been vaccinated, it still equates to higher numbers of unvaccinated people compared to other ethnicities and a wider spread across the country. It is important vaccinations increase in this group.

Māori and Pacific people have higher statistical proportions of unvaccinated in their populations and a higher risk of infection, hospitalisation and death. Health experts, community leaders and government officials have rightly been targeting Māori vaccination rates but it could also be contributing to stigma.

Professor Michael Baker, an epidemiologist at the University of Otago, said there was mounting negativity towards Māori, but the overall unvaccinated population did not point to them.

“There’s still a lot more unvaccinated Pākehā than the other groups combined.”

Baker was concerned about the misinformation being spread between communities, and with all sides of the population picking up on it, it was becoming a national issue of trying to address complex cases of undecided people.

Indigenous data researcher Andrew Sporle says Māori won't reach 90 per cent vaccination status until after Christmas.

“A lot of the issues will be similar [between Māori and Pākehā] and they’ll be looking at the same sources of misinformation.

“When we look at risk, as soon as it looks like a group has very few people vaccinated, [Delta] goes beserk.”

In terms of population percentage, Māori have had a slower uptake, Baker said.

Pākehā were 11.4 percentage points off reaching 100 per cent, compared to Māori who were 27.7 percentage points off, the Ministry of Health figures showed.

A successful vaccination roll-out means getting equally high protection, he said.

“That is a real issue,” Baker said. “We want to highlight problems and needs, and it can come across as blaming the victim.

“I don’t think you can pretend there isn’t a gap, but, however you say it, people always turn it around to blame these groups.”

Māori data expert Andrew Sporle said rather than focusing on Māori as the unvaccinated, health professionals needed to understand the social characteristics of the unvaccinated.

“They tend to be poorer, less educated, religious and more distant from society.

“How do you have a relationship of trust with people who are disengaged? It’s a matter of finding what trusted engagement services they have which will likely be social services.”

A health and social response to the pandemic was necessary now, alongside the other targeted campaigns for Māori, rangatahi and young men, Sporle said.

Blaming an ethnicity for the spreading of the virus or being unvaccinated wasn’t the right way to move forward, he said.

A single person could spread the virus, as the nation saw when one positive case started the Delta breakout in August, Sporle said.

That’s why it was imperative for everyone across New Zealand to get fully vaccinated to ensure the greatest protection for all, he said.

The Ministry of Health has been approached for comment.

CORRECTION: The word ‘rate’, as a numerical term, was used incorrectly and amended. (November 6, 2021, 9.30am)