Local Focus: Waimana is on a vaccination mission

The small rural settlement of Waimana in the Eastern Bay of Plenty is on a vaccination mission.

Mobile clinics are working seven days a week to boost vaccination levels among Māori, which currently sit well below the national average.

The clinic was organised by Te Puna Ora o Mataatua, the health provider responsible for about 30 per cent of Māori vaccinations in the region.

Chief adviser Haromi Williams said communication was key.

"People like me, we come around because we know our valleys and we know our whānau," she said.

"We work alongside the people who make the best impact with their families.

"I've been working with the Waimana response team and they, in actual fact, are the ones that set this all up.

"All our team does is, we come in to provide the vaccines, but Waimana really, they own this."

As of last week, its statistics showed that 78 per cent of Māori in Waimana had received one dose and 63 per cent were fully vaccinated.

In Tāneatua 74 per cent had received a single dose and 59 per cent both doses.

Tāneatua Community Board vice-chairwoman Toni Boynton said there were plenty of hurdles to overcome.

"The information wasn't clear about the vaccine on the ground and there's been a long time period in which they've received information, but from the wrong sources," she said.

"So they have only been left with social media to get information about it.

"Also historically our area has had a terrible relationship with the Crown, so there's a lot of distrust there to overcome, as well as the misinformation, as well as our whānau just being scared," Boynton said.

Autumn Amoroa travelled from Te Teko to receive her second vaccination and encouraged others to do the same.

"I got vaccinated to keep my family and myself safe," she said.

"Come down to support your whānau, easy as."

The mobile clinics will continue through the Christmas period.