Māori health researcher Dr Rawiri Taonui says reaching a 90 per cent vaccination rate in New Zealand means there is less risk for Māori.
Modelling released by Te Pūnaha Matatini on Thursday showed if 90 per cent of the population aged over five was fully vaccinated there would be about 600 deaths in a year.
This number could drop to about 50 if other health measures were in place.
But if only 80 per cent of the population aged over five was fully vaccinated, the picture is a lot more bleak.
There could be 60,000 hospitalisations from Covid-19 and 7000 deaths.
In light of this, Taonui told Breakfast a 90 per cent vaccination rate was "a lot better than 80" and was the "best case scenario".
However, he reflected if there about 50 deaths per year, it was "highly likely" a large portion would be Māori.
Taonui said the Delta variant was a "huge risk" to Māori and Pasifika, with about 48 per cent of Māori having received one dose of the vaccine "in reality".
He said Ministry of Health figures put this at 52 per cent, but their database supposedly did not include the four per cent — about 200,000 people — who do not engage in the health system.
Many of these are Māori and Pasifika, Taonui said.
Dr Rawiri Taonui says the vaccine rollout needs to switch to whānau-oriented model to turn around vaccination rates for Māori. (Source: Other)
In order to turn around vaccination rates for Māori, he said it needed to be ensured the roll-out was whānau-oriented, rather than individual focused.
Although vaccinations for Māori aged over 65 was "really good" at about 81 per cent, it was "very, very low" for those aged between 12 and 34 at 34 per cent, Taonui said.
"This is a big issue for us and something we really need to tackle and turn around."
He felt this could be done if the vaccine was rolled "out to the whanau".
In August, the Māori vaccination rate went as below as 52 per cent of the national average, but as of Thursday it was now about 65 per cent, Taonui said.
Vaccinating as a whānau, taking the vaccine to the community and accessing Māori health providers was "really effective", he said.
"It's important to take the vaccine to communities, rather than expect them to roll up as individuals."
SHARE ME