ProCare echoes calls to prioritise COVID vaccines

ProCare echoes calls to prioritise COVID vaccines for Māori and Pasifika

ProCare, New Zealand’s largest network of primary healthcare professionals, has today echoed the calls from the Mayor of Auckland, the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners and Te Rōpū Whakakaupapa Urutā, the National Māori Pandemic Group, that unvaccinated Māori and Pasifika must be prioritised to receive their first COVID-19 vaccination.

Bindi Norwell, Group CEO at ProCare says: "With yesterday’s data showing that we now have more than 100 cases of Delta in the community it’s essential that we have a strong focus on equity and ensure that our most vulnerable populations have at the very least had their first COVID vaccination.

"This echoes calls made by the likes of Phil Goff, the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners and Te Rōpū Whakakaupapa Urutā who understand just how important it is that we get this right in order to avoid significant impacts on our Maori and Pacific populations.

"Data has shown that only 29.2% of the eligible Māori population and 32.1% of the eligible Pacific population have had their first vaccine. This is compared to 45.1% of European/Other populations," she continues.

"In order to help protect some of our most vulnerable populations, we are now working on strategies with vaccinating practices that are part of the ProCare network and our Equity team to help encourage eligible Māori and Pacific people over the age of 12 years old, in order to help rectify this inequity," says Norwell.

"The ‘one size fits all’ approach to vaccinations doesn’t work with all parts of the Tāmaki Makaurau population, so we’re also working closely with community leaders and churches to look at how we might be able to support pop up vaccination clinics or mobile clinics in the community in order to try and increase the equity of vaccination rates," she concludes.

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