Work under way to prioritise Māori children in paediatric vaccine roll-out, Waitangi Tribunal hears
Friday, 10 December 2021
Prioritising Māori children for paediatric vaccinations is one of four new strategies the Crown has agreed to work on to improve its Covid-19 response for Māori, it was revealed on Friday as the urgent Waitangi Tribunal hearing drew to a close.
On the final day of the Tribunal’s week-long inquiry into whether the Government's Covid-19 response breached its treaty obligations to Māori, New Zealand Māori Council lawyer Felix Geiringer noted that the Crown had already started to make changes.
Geiringer told the Tribunal the Government, through its new Māori Covid-19 response framework Ngā Mana Whakahaere o Covid-19 – established this week – had agreed Māori children will be prioritised in the paediatric vaccination roll-out.
“The Crown has agreed through Ngā Mana Whakahaere to four work streams to commence immediately,” Geiringer said.
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“The first work stream is a strategy for a paediatric vaccine roll-out that does prioritise Māori children as a vulnerable group, that will be a funded approach that will target early adoption by Māori children in a co-ordinated and a co-operative way with Māori groups.
“A second workstream is to do essentially the same sort of thing in relation to a vaccine booster roll-out, again prioritising vulnerable Māori to ensure that they receive their third Pfizer dose six months after their second dose.”
It was also agreed to increase support for Māori public health organisations and health providers to care for those isolating at home with Covid-19, and change its communication approach with Māori communities.
“That was the right thing for the Crown to do,” Geiringer said in his closing statements. “The Crown has proactively said, yes, we accept that, we want to work with you, and we want to progress these issues.”
But those changes don’t absolve the Government of its failings, Geiringer said.
“Māori can’t be left behind, so ultimately there needs to be some bravery from our Government to be prepared to prioritise Māori when they need prioritisation.”
Geiringer’s submission was supported in the closing submissions of the lawyers who represented the other 40-odd claimants.
Throughout the week, the Tribunal heard evidence of the Government’s lack of communication with Māori groups, its decisions not to implement the advice of its ministries, experts and Māori leaders in policy, the bureaucracy that has tied up funding, and the impact fast-moving decisions have had on Māori populations.
The Government knew, through comprehensive advice, that its Covid-19 response breached Te Tiriti o Waitangi, they told the Tribunal.
Maia Wikaira, lawyer for Bay of Plenty Māori health provider Te Puna Ora o Mataatua, said urgent recommendations were needed before December 15 when the Auckland border reopens, to ensure protection for vulnerable Māori.
“The Crown needs to better understand the gravity of the situation,” Wikaira said.
“The Crown knew of the risk to Māori but, in breach of all Te Tiriti principles, decided to moved to the permissive Covid protection framework.
“Advice that was provided was unequivocal that that posed great dangers to Māori. The relative risk to Māori is death.”
However, Crown lawyer Jason Gough repeated that it was too soon to find any Treaty breaches in the Government’s response.
Gough said the Government had been clear from the beginning of the pandemic that Māori were particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 due to broader determinants of health and co-morbidities, and that there was a need to protect Māori and other vulnerable communities.
“Evidence demonstrates that this was a key consideration for decision makers and was a feature of the relevant documents and advice to Cabinet in its decision-making.
“In light of this awareness, the evidence shows that numerous steps have been taken during the vaccination roll-out and the development and implementation of the Covid-19 framework to protect Māori from Covid-19,” Gough said.
Witnesses for the Crown told the Tribunal yesterday that the Government chose a whānau-based approach to vaccinations over a 15-year age band adjustment, put forward by the Ministry of Health, making Māori eligible for vaccination sooner at each stage of the vaccine roll-out to address Māori health disparities and uphold the Treaty.
Judge Damian Stone, supported by Tribunal members Associate Professor Tom Roa, Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith and Tania Simpson, questioned Gough on the rationale behind that decision if the Government’s own staff advised it would be in line with Treaty principles.
“It strikes me as a little odd that, in order to address inequities, the Crown is not prepared to single out a group, because surely that is the only way you address the inequity,” Stone said.
“[Māori have] got to be singled out, and they’ve got to be catered for, otherwise the inequity persists,” Stone said, “and if the rationale for not doing so is, ‘oh we’re scared’, or ‘there might be a backlash’, how are we ever going to address the inequity?”
Gough replied, “I’m afraid I can’t help with that. I don’t know what the motivation was.”
Gough told the Tribunal the move away from the elimination strategy into the protection framework was not a choice, but an understanding that Delta could not be eliminated.
But the Government held off the shift until vaccination rates were higher to ensure protection of Māori and other vulnerable communities, Gough said.
“[Delta] is the source of the risk to vulnerable communities, and to Māori communities in particular, and it is not, and can’t be said to be, the result of any choice of the government.”
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Stone asked Gough if the Crown was ready to accept any Treaty breaches, but Gough said it was too soon to know if there had been any.
“When will we know if there’s been a Treaty breach if it’s not now?” Stone said. “What are we waiting for? Because we don’t know the final outcome of how all this plays out?”
Gough said because the Government was still responding to the pandemic, it was in an emergency situation, there was limited time to prepare for the Tribunal and not all interested parties had a chance to share their evidence, it was not appropriate to decide if any Treaty principles had been breached.
Lawyer Paranihia Walker, who represented claimants including Te Rōpū Whakakaupapa Urutā co-chair Dr Rawiri McKree Jansen and Covid-19 modeller Professor Shaun Hendy, said the request from the Crown for the Tribunal not to find any breaches was not good enough.
“The Tribunal has heard from over 40 witnesses this week,” Walker said.
“It’s no answer for Māori to say that at some time in the future we will come back to this and determine if there was a breach and whether or not anything could have been done.
“Māori lives are being impacted and findings and recommendations are needed now.”
Walker sought a commitment from the Government to undertake a Treaty of Waitangi principle-led response that was Māori-led with a priority placed on streamlining resourcing to health providers and other support groups of the Covid-19 response.
The Tribunal has retired to deliberate.