June 08, 2022
Official numbers understate Covid threat
Rawiri Taonui full interview click here
A Māori researcher says the Health Ministry is underestimating the number of Māori needing vaccinations, creating considerable risk for future Covid waves.
Rawiri Taonui says rather than using the most up to date population estimates, the ministry is using a data set based on those who used the health system two years ago, leading to a significant undercount of Māori.
While it says the number of vaccinated Māori is over 91 percent, it’s likely to be closer to 84 percent – and even more alarming, only a third of Maori aged between 18 and 49 have received a booster shot.
Dr Taonui says the virus continues to mutate, and another wave is inevitable.
“We have a virus at the moment which is more infectious but less severe but is taking a lot of lives because of sheer weight of numbers. Now Māori are particularly at risk if a newer variant appears that impacts on younger populations because that’s when our low vaccination rates will really make us vulnerable,” he says
Dr Taonui says while future variants could be less severe, the experience of the 1918 influenza pandemic was that the seconds wave was actually worse and took more Māori lives.
He welcomes yesterday’s announcement by Health Minister Andrew Little that the age at which Māori would get priority for a second booster dose will be dropped to 50 yeas old.