The latest stats from last weeks South Auckland mass vaccination event show what we are seeing in vaccination stats from border workers, that Māori & Pacifica vaccination rates are woefully low.
This data is remarkably frustrating because this is a lesson Pākehā Health systems have been warned about since the 2019s measles epidemic.
Community outreach doesn’t work if you don’t have anyone the Community trusts to reach out!
It is no surprise whatsoever that People of Colour don’t trust Pākehā dominated health services, especially if they are overstayers. That history of mistrust is deep and requires a totally different response.
An overstayer amnesty, Māori Health Authority and properly funded Community outreach should be starting points.
If we don’t radically shift attention to empowering communities to reach out in their own voice and culture then we can never reach a high enough herd immunity level to move past COVID.
All this money and effort to vaccinate will be wasted if we can’t reach everyone.
There can’t be any successful vaccination program if Māori and Pacifica are not included.
First published on Waatea News.
Trust me it’s not racism that is the reason. Go to a jabbing center and you could not argue that ‘colonisation’ and the way people talk to you is turning away brown people. I suspect its due to a lack of direct communication and lack of awareness of the effects of welfare and poverty.
How about a mandatory jab for getting a benefit or access to state housing/accommodation? Or is it only higher income roles and jobs that require mandatory vaccination? too Obtuse?
If you have a look at the picture, they all look like people of colour, but maybe not Maori and Pacific Islanders. As the woke destroy NZ into their perfect vision, but then blame others for the resulting problems, maybe have a look in the mirror, at the woke marketing first. Take responsibility for a change in NZ, woke!
People need ethnic role models for getting vaccinated? I’m not sure about that idea.
I’d be interested in know if vaccination rates of Maori and Pasifika differ from the national average when you control for socioeconomic status or educational level. My guess is “no”.
Fact check
Claim
RNZ (2021) report health sector concerns of low Covid-19 vaccination rates for New Zealand Maori, this ethnic group being “well down on the rest of the population”, the “least vaccinated community in the country”, and with a double dose rate of 8.9%.
Data and discussion
Our current population is 5 million people and 2.2 million doses in total have been given (821,000 people double dosed), a proportion of
821,000/5 million = 16% of the population fully vaccinated.
Maori have received 200,000 total and 76000 second doses for a proportion in this ethnic group of
76,000/850,000 (Statistics NZ, n.d.: b) = 8.9% of Maori vaccinated.
9.65% of Maori are aged 60 years and over according to Statistics NZ 2018 census (Statistics NZ, n.d.), the high risk groups which have been prioritised for vaccination so far (85% of vaccinations have been administered to those aged 60+, NZ Ministry of Health 2021), while for the entire population the proportion is 20.75% aged over 60.
If we consider the status of this older age group only (assuming Maori are represented proportionately in priority Groups 1-3, the border and health workers, frontline staff and the ill, and are willing to be fully vaccinated. MBIE states 34,000 of 246,000 health care workers are Maori, 14%, and there is nothing to suggest Maori vaccine hesitancy in the sector) then Maori seem to have a vaccination rate close to their age demographic (9 versus 10%), and a better vaccination rate than the entire population (16 versus 21%), acknowledging the lower proportion of Maori who live to older age.
As well those who have received a second dose as a proportion of the first is higher in Maori than the entire population (76699/122696 = 63% to 820825/1386643 = 59%) and also as a proportion of second dose to total doses (38% to 37%).
Conclusion
The proportion of Maori vaccinated is 8.9%, which seems low when compared to Maori as a proportion of total population (~17%), but if we restrict the survey to those who have been offered the vaccine so far to 60+ years, then with the lower numbers of elderly Maori as a proportion of their total population there is an alignment between number of elderly and vaccinations (no hesitancy).
References
NZ Ministry of Health. (2021). Covid-19: Vaccine data. Retrieved from
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-data-and-statistics/covid-19-vaccine-data
RNZ. (2021). Maori and Pacific health groups worried by low vaccination rates. Retrieved from
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/448828/maori-and-pacific-health-groups-worried-by-low-vaccination-rates
Statistics NZ. (n.d.: a). 2018 census ethnic group summaries. Retrieved from
https://www.stats.govt.nz/tools/2018-census-ethnic-group-summaries/m%C4%81ori
Statistics NZ. (n.d.: b). Maori ethnic population estimates 2006 – 2018. Retrieved from
https://www.stats.govt.nz/methods/maori-ethnic-group-population-estimates-200618-methods-and-results
Good work Jody. I could feel a moral panic coming on there.
thanks for that Jody. Correlates with my vaccination experience in the Far North by a Maori Health organization where the vaccinators were Maori and between 70 and 80% of people being vaccinated at my local centre were Maori albeit in the older age group.
Update Sunday 15 August 2021
Jake Tame framed the entire TVNZ Q+A program this morning on supposed low rates of vaccination of ‘Maori’, mentioning the word ‘Maori’ dozens of times in leading questions to his guests. The framing of Tame’s questions (accusations) left no doubt as to the beliefs and mission of TVNZ, that ‘Maori’ are a non-compliant threat to the vaccination program. The evidence to date shows the opposite: the vaccination rates of those with Maori ancestry are higher than the rest of the population. Any opinions on future vaccination rates for the indigenous population by Tame were just that, pure speculation, lacking journalistic integrity but more importantly not delivering accurate, objective, current and important Ministry of Health information to this group. Tame made statements on the program which would be termed ‘conspiracy theories’ by the medical profession because of the lack of scientific evidence and scholarship, and which would have been censored by social media companies because of their inflammatory and targeted messaging.
We need to implement another vaccination risk group, that of Government Plants, unelected Ministers from a foreign country with overseas property interests intent on smearing the indigenous population during the course of their medical crusade.
Are you proposing vaccine conversion therapy?
All the maori I have worked with could read and were able to understand the English on the radio. Why then do they need the government to lead them by the hand to get a life saving vaccine.
If I said maori were thick and could not grasp the situation at hand I would rightly be shouted down why then is it ok for their leaders to say it
Can you vaccinate people against stupidity?
Agree Trevor
It’s open to all (over 18) from September 1. That makes it available to all in the younger browner demographic in a few weeks. It’s now about access to online booking and to locations (appointment times).
Vaccines have been available to Maori and PI people for longer than Level 3 which are still 85% unvaccinated. Not only have they been available but they have been available in settings and occasions far more ‘welcoming’ than Vax opportunities for Group 3 across the Wellington region where I live. Cant comment on other places, though anecdotally Auckland and Northland seem similar.
My husband works with major government departments and with some of the Wellington Maori elite who were all fully vaccinated (if they wanted it) long before I (as a severely immune impaired Level 3 got my first vaccination). It then began to filter out that it was entire M/PI families over the age of 13? on the basis they were all at risk.
I live in the geriatric capital of the region and the only choice given to any of us was a week ago at a mass vaccination site not on a bus route and with parking for about 1/2 as many people as needed.
So whilst I do accept that Maori/PI are at risk because of their living arrangements and genetics, I do not agree that too little is being done specific to these groups.
Too little is being done about the severely at risk Level 3s and as of 2 weeks ago, there were still reports of some old peoples homes not having been vaxxed.
I daresay there may be an issue about ‘faith in western healthcare solutions’ but I would suggest the government get on and concentrate its efforts on vaccinating the people who do want to be vaccinated and on working on better settings for the immuno compromised (and their families) and aged/infirm than mass vaccination centres. Then in the background, they can do some research on why uptake is low amongst specific groups (maybe doing some of their famous surveys) and work out what it will take to get it up. And then make the necessary changes and get it done. At the moment, NZ needs all numbers up and it needs to look after ALL the vulnerable.
Very well put Blinky.
Thankyou
Mobile Vaccine Stations is the answer.
Like an Army does when invading a country. Door to door, street by street, town by town.
Comments are closed.