Government ignored Bloomfield's age band advice for Māori vaccinations
Thursday, 9 December 2021
They gave Cabinet the advice, but Cabinet chose a different path. That’s the resounding commentary the Waitangi Tribunal heard from the Government’s advisers on Thursday.
Among that advice was that Cabinet introduce a 15-year age band adjustment making Māori eligible for vaccination sooner at each stage of the vaccine roll-out to address Māori health disparities and uphold the Treaty.
“We quite clearly gave our advice,” Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said. “[But] in this matter, as in all matters, Cabinet has the mandate to make decisions.”
Bloomfield fielded hours of questions from the Tribunal panel and lawyers about the decision-making that led to what almost 40 claimants say is an inequitable pandemic response that has put Māori lives in jeopardy.
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Bloomfield has been one of the faces of the Government’s response, fronting the 1pm press conferences and providing public health advice to Cabinet to help the nation’s leaders decide how to tackle the pandemic.
But on the fourth day of the urgent inquiry into whether the Government breached its Treaty of Waitangi obligations in its handling of the Covid-19 response, Bloomfield fronted the questioning alone without his ministers.
When asked point-blank if the policy that underpinned the vaccination roll-out and the Covid protection framework upheld Te Tiriti o Waitangi, he said that was a question for Cabinet.
“Our organisation strives to ensure our advice that we give to Government is compliant with and incorporating and addressing all those Treaty principles, and that’s what we’ve striven to do.
“On the most part, our advice has been accepted, but because it informs and covers right across the Government, rightly, Cabinet has received and taken [other] advice.”
When Bloomfield advised Cabinet to introduce an age band of 15 years priority for Māori ahead of Pākehā to access the vaccine, the Government instead chose a whānau-based approach. That meant those who were eligible for the vaccine could bring their whānau to get vaccinated as well, but across the past four days the Tribunal has heard that that approach was unsuccessful.
Bloomfield said he was aware of the advice from Te Puni Kōkiri – The Ministry of Māori Development, Te Arawhiti – the Ministry for Māori Crown Relations and iwi leaders not to move to the traffic light system until Māori vaccination rates reached 90 per cent.
He also shared a “strong preference” of not moving into the traffic light system until Māori had reached 90 per cent.
“It was essential for us right from the start of our vaccination preprogramme that we did not allow or tolerate lower vaccination rates among Māori as we delivered the programme,” Bloomfield said.
“We gave our best advice. It falls to Government to assess the full range of advice.”
Te Arawhiti chief executive Lilian Anderson said the ministry had been working with iwi and Māori organisations to help them provide for Māori across the course of the pandemic, and kept officials informed of what Māori groups were experiencing on the ground.
Anderson said the ministry had warned the Government on November 10 that the move to the traffic light system, planned for November 29, didn’t take into consideration the impact on Māori and wasn’t robust enough to provide confidence in the protection of tāngata whenua.
“There are serious risks with such an ad-hoc approach. Increasing case numbers and a focus on delivering support means this approach is not robust and is likely to fray or collapse under pressure,” an excerpt of the advice said.
Again on November 14, Te Arawhiti was asked to comment on a draft Cabinet paper regarding the move to the new framework.
The ministry advised that there had been no engagement with iwi about the shift from all DHBs reaching 90 per cent vaccination rates prior to the move.
“One Zoom hui does not constitute as engagement,” Te Arawhiti said.
“The paper talks about having time to lift preparedness in vulnerable regions. But planning has just begun.”
The ministry said the fast-tracked move didn’t give Māori groups enough time to put in place measures to protect Māori against the expected increase in Covid-19 cases across the motu.
Te Puni Kōkiri’s deputy secretary Grace Smit said the ministry had supported the move to the traffic light system, but only when the eligible populations of all ethnic groups reached 90 per cent vaccination rates.
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Smit, like Anderson, said the decisions made at the highest level needed to be informed by the readiness of Māori community leadership and provider infrastructure before the move.
Judge Damian Stone is presiding, supported by Tribunal members Associate Professor Tom Roa, Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith and Tania Simpson.
The hearing continues.