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Two-thirds of the eligible Māori population have now received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine after a big effort on Super Saturday.
Associate Health Minister Peeni Henare says 21,702 Māori got vaccinated on the day, with 10,825 people getting first doses and 10,877 people getting fully vaccinated with their second doses.
That means 44 per cent or 252,419 Māori are fully vaccinated.
He says it showed the value of whānau-based programmes designed and delivered by Māori, with Hawke’s Bay for example vaccinating over 6 per cent of its eligible Māori population in a single day.
The effort needs to be maintained, with a huge range of vaccination options available for Māori including pharmacies, GPs, mobile and pop-up clinics, mass vaccinations, workplace events and marae-based programmes.
There was a total of 130,002 vaccines delivered on Saturday, lifting the number of people who have had their first dose by 2 per cent to 85 per cent and fully vaccinated by 3 per cent to 65 per cent.
There were 51 new community cases yesterday; 47 in Auckland and four in the Waikato.
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