The health system can’t get any worse for Māori than it already is, says Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. She’s been fighting for help with Taranaki’s vaccination rollout for months, but it’s taken until this week to get any attention.
The Director-General of Health picked up the phone on Wednesday and called the chief executives of the two district health boards with the worst performing Māori vaccination rates.
It’s not something he does regularly but increasing media attention on Taranaki and Tairāwhiti contributed to his decision to speak directly with those in charge.
It came in the wake of news at the weekend that a Māori health provider in Tairāwhiti crowdfunded for a mobile vaccination clinic after the DHB failed to fund it.
It got worse when Associate Health Minister Peeni Henare put the spotlight on Taranaki DHB on Tuesday for failing to establish relationships with its local Māori and iwi providers, and directly linked it to the region’s low vaccination rates.
And then on Wednesday Newsroom revealed how “incredulous” Health Minister Andrew Little was about Taranaki DHB’s performance. He went even further, saying both Taranaki and Tairāwhiti DHBs had failed Māori on vaccination.
Within hours, Ngarewa-Packer, who is working directly with Ngāti Ruanui and Ngāruahine iwi in Taranaki to provide health services, received a call from the DHB to say the mobile vaccination clinic they’d long been asking for had been accepted.
Shortly after, Doctor Ashley Bloomfield was on the phone to the DHB’s chief executive asking what more it needed to get Māori vaccination rates up, including an offer to personally visit and help with the cause.
He then called Tairāwhiti DHB’s chief executive and offered the same thing.
Covid hasn’t treated Māori well.
They make up almost half of the cases in the latest Delta outbreak and as for vaccination, the rates are shockingly low for younger Māori, particularly in remote parts of the country.
In Taranaki just 38 percent of Māori have had both jabs, compared to a national fully vaccinated Māori rate of 44 percent.
In South Taranaki, where Ngarewa-Packer calls home, the number of Māori double-jabbed is even lower.
“It feels like we’re in a scrum – it shouldn’t be that hard.’’ – Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Te Pāti Māori
For that reason, she’s pleased that Little, who originally hails from New Plymouth, has called out the failure of some DHBs to do right by Māori on the vaccination front.
She told Newsroom Little had to name and shame those who were failing Māori, if only to “take the heat off the DHBs who weren’t’’.
Her own iwi has hit roadblock after roadblock over the course of the rollout, something she said wasn't uncommon when it came to working with the district health board.
“It feels like we’re in a scrum – it shouldn’t be that hard.’’
Ngarewa-Packer is currently at home in Patea.
News this week that a mobile vaccination clinic had been approved for her communities means they can get on with the job of getting to hard-to-reach whānau to spread the message and merits of being vaccinated.
When Newsroom spoke to her on Thursday, she was about to head out with colleagues who were getting trained up to administer the vaccine safely.
She said engaging non-Māori in their health services was easy – the tough part was reaching Māori.
“We’re contending with the lowest Māori vaccination rate and also the lowest trust in our DHB.’’
This isn’t the first time Māori health providers have come up against the DHB, Ngarewa-Packer said.
When Covid first hit 18 months ago, her iwi was struggling to get enough swabs for Covid testing.
Taranaki’s testing numbers were low and despite best efforts to improve them, it eventually required a plea to the Ministry of Health to get the testing equipment, she said.
Their requests to the DHB went unanswered.
Last week Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visited Taranaki as part of her campaign to drive vaccination ahead of Super Saturday.
While there she was photographed in one of the two mobile vaccination clinics, the DHB had kitted out for its more remote communities.
“It was frustrating to see the Prime Minister having a photoshoot with the very campervans we’d been asking for. There they were in New Plymouth while we were scrounging around in the hardest areas to try and mobilise," Ngarewa-Packer told Newsroom.
“These are things that would make a real difference and it’s what’s so hurtful.
“The Prime Minister has this huge podium of influence and then you, the media, ask just one question about it and suddenly we have a campervan the next day.’’
“I’m quite happy to say I’m disappointed in the inconsistencies across a number of DHBs.’’
- Associate Health Minister Peeni Henare
She wants Ardern to use her influence to call out those who aren’t doing their bit to help lift Māori vaccination rates.
“They’ll make big comments about the little things but not the big things that matter and that will send a shot across the bow of those who need it.’’
Ngarewa-Packer is hopeful Taranaki can get its vaccination rate up and that ultimately the health reforms, led by Little, to implement a Māori Health Authority will make a difference in the long term.
“I have to have hope – surely it can’t be any worse than what we’ve got now.’’
Pressure goes on DHBs
On Thursday Henare told Newsroom lagging DHBs would no longer have a choice when it came to picking up Māori vaccination rates.
“I’ve made it clear and been quite direct with those areas we want to target,'' he said.
“We know the timing isn’t ideal, it’s not too far from Christmas, but it’s clear we need another strong push to continue the momentum from Super Saturday, and I’m confident we’ll get there.’’
Henare said the obvious problems that needed fixing include “a bottleneck of funding to providers that allows them to do what needs to be done’’ and “expediting the funding to our providers’’.
“I’m quite happy to say I’m disappointed in the inconsistencies across a number of DHBs.’’
A fortnight ago, Henare also visited the two mobile vaccination clinics in New Plymouth.
“I saw them with my own eyes ready to go. What that tells me is the connection and the relationship between the DHB and the providers is the challenge there,’’ Henare told Newsroom.
On Friday he announced, alongside Ardern, another $120 million to accelerate Māori vaccination rates.
Half of the money will be available from next week and will go directly to iwi and Māori community providers with existing funding agreements to increase vaccination in the next two months.
It will focus on areas where Māori vaccination is low, including, Counties Manukau, Lakes District, Taranaki and Tairāwhiti, Northland and Bay of Plenty DHB areas.
The second phase of money will support organisations to get prepared for the next step of Covid life, with the introduction of a traffic light system for when DHBs all hit 90 percent vaccination.
The money will be allocated to supporting testing and other public health measures required under the new system, and support for diagnosis and home-isolation. That funding will be available from early next month.
