November 12, 2021
Tough calls for vaccination tail
Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency chair Merepeka Raukawa-Tait says the Health Ministry seems to be trying to make it as difficult as possible for whānau ora providers to reach unvaccinated Māori.
The agency is seeking a second urgent judicial review to get the ministry to change its position on the release of data including addresses and phone numbers of Māori.
Ministry advice is that releasing the data would cut across the rights of individual iwi and that its selected contractor is finding cold calls are becoming less effective.
Ms Raukawa-Tait says just because the ministry has failed doesn’t mean Māori providers can’t reach those people.
“If the DHBs haven’t been able to capture those people now, they’re making it harder for us as the whānau ora providers to do that, so it is becoming more and more difficult, and we are very concerned,” she says.
Merepeka Raukawa-Tait says she’s concerned about what will happen with the spread of Covid-19 among unvaccinated Māori once the border comes down and Aucklanders start to travel over summer – and that when things hit crisis point the ministry will suddenly heap the data on the agencies and expect it to fix themes.