November 11, 2021
Covid data fight heads back to court
The Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency today asked the High Court for a second urgent review of the Health Ministry’s decision to deny it access to contact data for unvaccinated Māori.
It says the ministry’s decision to continue to withhold the data despite last week’s high Court finding was based on clear errors of fact and law.
Agency chair Merepeka Raukawa-Tait says in the month since the first judicial review application was filed there have been 1500 plus Covid cases among Māori, who are now the majority of all new cases.
She says whānau ora providers must be given an opportunity to vaccinate as many Māori whānau as possible before the borders reopen in time for Christmas and Covid starts to run rampant in their communities.
Advice given to the Director General of Health, Ashley Bloomfield, opposing any sharing of the data said cold calling by the ministry’s chosen contractor Whakaronogorau was becoming less effective, and it did not expect that would improve if the Whānau Ora Agency took over the task.
It also cited opposition from iwi including Ngāi Tahu for data about there members to be shared with organisations they did not consider to be treaty partners.