December 07, 2021
Tamariki could be vector for Covid spread
The New Zealand Māori Council wants the crown to make vaccinating tamariki Māori its new priority.
The council is leading this week’s Waitangi Tribunal hearing into the crown’s Covid response, which it says have fallen short because of a refusal to heed the data and put Māori first.
Lawyer Donna Hall says Māori have a much greater risk of catching Covid-19 because too many of them live in overcrowded, damp houses and have pre-existing conditions.
Children need to be vaccinated because they are the most likely source of infection into Māori homes.
“They go to kura, they go to kindy and kōhanga, they catch the usual kid things like mumps and measles and chickenpox and kutus and now they catch Covid and they bring it home to the whānau, to mum and nanny who will be living with them and two weeks later nanny dies because she’s caught Covid and can’t survive and the little ones do survive but we have seen out of the stats in Navaho, they come out lung damaged,” Ms Hall says.
More than 30 Māori organisations are taking part in the hearing.