November 29, 2021
Running on Māori data needed for Christmas rush
The Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency expects a rapid decision on a second judicial review of the Health Ministry’s decision to withhold data on unvaccinated Māori.
Agency head John Tamihere says the belated release of some data for Tāmaki Makaurau means Waipareira and its Whaāau Ora partners are able to deploy their vaccination teams into areas where they know where to drive and who to contact, rather than standing at the end of a street with a loudspeaker.
But there is no way to reach everyone who needs a vaccine before the dropping of the Auckland border and the switch to the traffic light system.
He says a telling moment at Thursday’s hearing was when Health Ministry lawyers said the Director-General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, was considering giving the agency data on Māori who had not got a second jab after eight weeks.
“Why is it that Māori have to wait eight weeks and a Pākehā can get it in three weeks, a second vaccine. Every kiwi listening to it knows it wasn’t about privacy, it wasn’t about capacity or capability, it was solely about a white man controlling the whole game and not wanting to devolve any authority for ourselves over ourselves and that is why we must break away from the welfarism of the Bloomfields of this world,” Mr Tamihere says,
John Tamihere