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Download AudioA claim by National’s Matt Doocey that COVID vaccines in his region were race-based has been slapped down by Associate Health Minister Peeni Henare.
The Waimakariri MP said a teenage member of a family who had registered as Māori had got a text message inviting him to book a vaccination, while an older Pākehā member of the family with health problems has not got a text.
Mr Henare says Mr Doocey seems intent on undoing efforts by health providers to get jabs into as many people as possible.
“You know the slightest hint of the kind of racism and the racism that Matt Doocey has displayed certainly doesn’t encourage our young people to come forward so I was upfront with him about that,” he says.
Mr Henare says providers are starting to take a whānau-based approach to getting people vaccinated, which he sees as a good start for the wider reform of the health system.
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