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Download AudioWhānau Ora Commissioning Agency chief executive John Tamihere says he intends to name the officials who blocked Māori providers from getting the data they need to identify unvaccinated Māori.
The High Court has agreed with the whānau ora agency’s claim it should have access to National Health Index data, and gave the Health Ministry three days to comply.
Mr Tamihere says the more than 90 percent of the 500,000 people vaccinated by 81 whānau ora providers and clinics around the North Island were non-Māori, because the system is designed to put those groups first in line.
He says the fact the system wasn’t changed in the face of the pandemic, even though they knew about lagging vaccination rates among rangatahi Māori, was down to deep seated racism.
“In the next wee while I will be naming every person that was part of the decision to block us, because it’s individuals. MOH doesn’t practice institutional racism. Racists within the Ministry of Health do, and the more you can identify them and call them out, like they name us on the front page,” Mr Tamihere says.
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