Covid-19: New vaccine clinic focuses on boosting rates for Māori in Canterbury

Monday, 30 August 2021

The University of Otago/CDHB Maori Indigenous Health Institute vaccination clinic has opened up at South City mall in Christchurch.

A new Christchurch vaccination clinic is aiming to break down the barriers stopping the city’s marginalised communities getting vaccinated against Covid-19.

The clinic, which targets Māori and their whānau, opened on Monday at the South City Shopping Centre.

It is a collaboration between the University of Otago’s Māori Indigenous Health Institute (MIHI), mana whenua, the Maui Collective, and the Canterbury District Health Board.

General Practitioner and senior lecturer at Otago University Christchurch Dr Maira Patu said MIHI usually operated a mobile clinic, travelling to different marae, kura, and Māori workplaces to vaccinate people.

Harry Denton gets vaccinated at the new Christchurch clinic.

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But because of the Level 4 lockdown, they needed to set up a designated clinic.

“We’re only vaccinating 90 people today (Monday), and we’ve done a combination of drive-through or car park vaccinations, and face-to-face.

“We are aiming to be vaccinating 210 to about 300 people a day once we get up and running properly – hopefully by next week.”

University of Otago Christchurch’s Dr Maira Patu at the University of Otago/CDHB MIHI vaccine clinic at South City mall in Christchurch.

While MIHI’s clinic was aimed at improving the Māori vaccination rate, it was also open to people of all ethnicities, as Patu said plenty of Māori had non-Māori whānau.

The Maui Collective, which is sharing the site, had also set up a raft of other clinics for some of Christchurch’s other vulnerable minority groups, she said.

Their first clinic is being held on Friday for members of the Somali community, but clinics will also be held in the near future for the Filipino community, Muslim groups, and QTopia, which represents Christchurch’s rainbow community.

“Clinics like this are particularly aimed at increasing the vaccination rates for our marginalised or vulnerable populations,” Patu said.

Many Māori, Pasifika, and other minority groups faced barriers getting vaccinated, she said.

“One-size-fits all has failed for decades. It doesn’t work for non-mainstream populations, so we need to do something different.”

Access was one of the biggest issues.

“On the Canvax (CDHB) vaccination website, you can only book one person at a time, with us you can book as a whānau. We do late-night clinics as well. Just really sensible things that generally aren’t thought of make this clinic more accessible.”

Jack Cleine gets his jab at South City mall.

Many Kiwis had a first language other than English, and Patu said that could also make it hard to access mainstream clinics.

MIHI’s clinic is available on weekdays, and they can be contacted by calling 0800 MIHI4U (0800 644 448) to make a booking.

The Maui Collective’s clinics are still being organised manually for now, and the team is working with community leaders to get people booked in. It will move to the National Booking System later in the week.

The iwi-led mobile vaccination clinic initiative has seen around 2608 Māori in Canterbury vaccinated in the last few months.

The move to alert level 4 put a pause on the clinics for a week while the organisers worked out how they could continue them safely.

Otago University Māori health expert Dr Suzanne Pitama said many whānau wanted the opportunity to ask questions at the booking stage – before committing to an appointment.

“Half of it is wanting assurance from someone from their own community and being able to have it somewhere they trust.”

The programme had been hugely successful, she said, with some who had previously been against the vaccine changing their minds.

Earlier this month the National Māori Pandemic Group, Te Rōpū Whakakaupapa Urutā, slammed the Government for failing to protect Māori and Pasifika.

As of August 16, more than 1.6 million people had received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. 95,000 of these were Pasifika, the lowest group uptake. The second-lowest uptake was Māori at 140,000.

Of more than 900,000 fully vaccinated New Zealanders, only 59,006 Pasifika people had received their second jab and 86,137 Māori.