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September 03, 2021
Maori Covid money welcomed as case numbers falling
Waatea Team
Posted On September 3, 2021
Download AudioA Māori GP says a $23 million infusion into Whānau Ora for Covid response shows the Government is finally starting to accept Māori are the best people to vaccinate Māori.
The funding, some of which will go to the Pasifika Futures commissioning agency, comes alongside a $26 million investment in Pasifika health providers.
Dr Matire Harwood says the lockdown has been tough on whānau Māori, and she’s seeing a large number of food packs going out from Papakura Marae where she works.
She says upping the vaccination rate is critical to tackling the outbreak.
"Whānau want to understand, be informed when it comes to vaccination and the best people to do that for them are Māori experts and Māori who care abut their whānau. Fabulous to see the money has come in order to do that properly. I wish it had been a little earlier," Dr Harwood says.
She is concerned some employers are pressuring their workers not to get tests because it means they’re off work during the isolation period waiting for the tests to come back.
There were just 28 community cases of Covid-19 confirmed today, one in Wellington and the rest in Auckland.
That takes the total in the current community outbreak to 764.
Only 35 percent of today’s cases were infectious in the community.
There are 43 cases in Auckland hospitals including nine in ICU.
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