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Download AudioKura kaupapa are keen to establish themselves as vaccination centres.
Rawiri Wright, the chair of Te Rūnanganui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa and tūmuaki of Wellington’s Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngā Mokopuna, says many of the 66 kura in the collective are looking to follow the example of Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Hoani Waititi Marae and Te Kura Kaupapa o Maungarongo in Tāmaki Makaurau which have already run testing and vaccination clinics.
He says it’s a way to increase the vaccination rate among tamariki Māori.
“At the moment it’s a paltry 29 per cent, according to the ministry figures, so anything to raise that figure, the old herd immunity thing, good for our tamariki mokopuna and our Māori communities,” he says.
Rawiri Wright says after marae, kura are often the most frequented places by Māori communities, so the initiative can reach not only tamariki but their whānau and the wider community.
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