'We can't give up': Māori health leader optimistic about reaching 90 per cent vaccination target

Thursday, 28 October 2021

“We have never been afraid of challenges,” Te Kōhao Health managing director Tureiti Lady Moxon says.

Vaccinating at least 90 per cent of Waikato’s Māori population is possible with the right information, says a Māori health leader.

Figures show 69.4 per cent of Māori in Waikato had received one dose of the vaccine, and 46.9 per cent were fully vaccinated.

There are another 48,506 people to reach before 90 per cent have received their first dose of the vaccine, but managing director of Māori health provider Te Kōhao Health Tureiti Lady Moxon isn’t fazed.

“It’s a challenge, but we have never been afraid of challenges. My view has been totally that we should not leave anyone behind.”

'We all want to have Christmas with our families,' Waikato DHB Covid-19 vaccine programe lead Maree Munro says. The DHB is workng harder to reach the people still to be vaccinated. (This video was first published October 28, 2021.)

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“We are not playing around here, lots of people think that it’s not going to affect them.”

Māori are at greater risk of severe illness and death if they catch Covid-19, and have been disproportionately impacted by the Delta community outbreak.

Te Kōhao has so far vaccinated 16,363 people in Waikato, 1608 of them in October.

Kirikiriroa Māori health provider Te Kōhao Health has vaccinated 1608 people in October.

Moxon – who is also an interim board member of the newly-created Māori Health Authority and chair of the National Urban Māori Authority – said reaching rangatahi was the biggest challenge.

But being vaccinated was important for them and their whānau’s wellbeing.

“We can’t give up, we just have to keep going. With the right information we will get there.”

The percentage of fully vaccinated Māori was at 47 per cent, with another 29,976 needed to reach 90 per cent.

“I am quietly optimistic. I believe we will get there. Will we get there before Christmas? I can’t say. But we will give it our best shot,” Moxon said.

There was a party vibe at Te Kōhao Health in Hamilton during the Super Saturday vaccination drive.

It was going to take longer than initially anticipated, but the numbers were slowly growing, and she was prepared to do whatever it took.

The health provider was trying to find new ways of doing things, with rangatahi using their platforms to reach others, incentives, and using mobile vaccinations.

Doctors and health professionals were available to talk to anyone who had concerns about the vaccine.

She said people were nervous and frightened, and a number of rangatahi had fainted when receiving their vaccine.

“There is a huge amount of false information out there, and we are at looking at ways to dispel that.”

Moxon said they needed everyone’s help. People who had already received the vaccine needed to talk about it, and those who had the virus should share their stories.

Everything would come to a head when the mandatory vaccination order came into play under the traffic light system, Moxon said.

Not only would the unvaccinated be out of a job, they would not have access to large parts of society.

“There will be whole groups of people who will be marginalised and not able to access things.”

The Waikato vaccination rate sat at 85 per cent of the population for first doses, and there were 17,576 people left to reach the 90 per cent target.

Only 68 per cent of people had received both doses, and there were another 77,468 people to jab before reaching 90 per cent of the population.

Waikato District Health Board could not be reached for comment.