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Download AudioA co-leader of the national Māori pandemic response group Te Rōpū Whakakaupapa Urutā says it’s time to hand the Covid vaccination programme to Māori.
Dr Rawiri McKree Jansen says the mainstream vaccination programme was highly effective to a point, but the largest number of unvaccinated people now are Māori.
“It’s time to hand over that resource and hand over the authority to run a vaccination programme to Māori. They’re had elements of Māori influence in the vaccination program. I think they should go further, and the remainder of it should probably be a Māori-led vaccination programme,” he says,
Dr Jansen says Māori providers have demonstrated their ability.
So far 88 per cent of Māori have had their second dose compared with 95 per cent of the general population, and the boosted rate of 58 per cent is 15 percentage points behind.
Cabinet is today discussing whether there should be changes to the traffic light settings.
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