Rangiwaea Island community leader claims 100% of its eligible residents vaccinated

Hunters Creek between Matakana (left) and Rangiwaea Islands. Photo / NZME

A community leader from Rangiwaea Island claims 100 per cent of its eligible residents are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

The island is located next to Matakana Island in the Bay of Plenty, north of Tauranga city and northwest of Mount Maunganui.

Brendon Taingahue said his community is "hell-bent" on "doing everything [it] can" to keep Covid-19 off their island.

"If we bring the infection back to the island, our community could be hugely compromised," the Tauwhao Te Ngare Trust trustee said.

The community was committed to "looking after one another" by being double vaccinated and vigilantly scanning QR codes, he said.

The island community of about 26 residents - ages ranging from children to retirees - has strictly managed the pandemic and kept infection out.

Taingahue and other community leaders said early on it was important to get vaccinated to protect their whānau.

"There wasn't any pressure at the time to say you have to get it done, but it was encouraged, and a lot of the feedback was actually positive.

"We all need to be singing off the same songsheet. It could just get around in the community like it has in the Bay of Plenty."

The wharf where people arrive on Rangiwaea has a QR code, and residents scan at mainland locations they visit.

"We're looking after our bastion, our turangawaewae."

He said people have been generally supportive of their stance.

"We've made a position, a stance, and we've stuck by it. It's not rocket science or anything, what we're doing."

The Bay of Plenty District Health Board did not have figures about Rangiwaea Island's specific vaccination rates.

According to Ministry of Health data, Rangiwaea Island combined with the larger neighbouring Matakana Island had a full vaccination rate of 67.6 per cent as of Wednesday, with 78.2 per cent partially vaccinated.

Matakana Island recorded a population of 183 in the 2018 census.

Poutiri Trust general manager Kirsty Maxwell-Crawford said the Bay of Plenty's islands had "added protection" from their isolation when it comes to Covid-19 management.

The trust has been vaccinating alongside Te Awanui Hauora on Matakana Island since June.

The hauora managed bookings, questions, and other on-the-ground preparations, while Poutiri provided nurses and vaccines.

Maxwell-Crawford said these vaccinations couldn't have happened without Te Awanui's community connections.

"It's a partnership approach in reality that recognises that you've gotta have those trust relationships in place in order to be able to serve in communities."

Poutiri was also supporting Covid-19 testing on Matakana, which has been possible because of the relationships they've formed.

She said the trust was willing to make the trip to vaccinate Matakana residents if as few as six people had appointments. Vaccine vials come in lots of six, so this was the minimum needed not to waste any doses.

"We're not focused on the numbers - we really are focused on continuing to develop and honour those relationships."

Te Awanui Hauora chief operations officer Te Uta Roretana said Matakana's vaccination rates were the result of "the collective effort of our whānau, our five hapu, Te Awanui Hauora and Poutiri Trust".

With the holiday season and the reopening of Auckland approaching, she said her community will continue to be vigilant.

"We had a community meeting recently and whilst we are not stopping whānau from coming home we are asking them to respect us at home and to ask their respective whānau what their 'rules' for coming home are."

She said some residents weren't allowing unvaccinated people into their homes, and others were requiring negative tests.

Roretana said the Poutiri Trust had taken the time to understand the island's struggles and needs.

"In the time they have been here I think that they get us – they get how difficult it is for us to get to town to do all these things."

She said the Matakana community's focus was not so much on raising vaccination rates anymore, but on learning to live with Covid and not in fear of it.

"For us, just going off the island is a risk. We have already had whānau who had been contacted because they had been in a location of interest."

She was hopeful the trust could set up an isolation/quarantine facility on the island.

It was unclear how many people on Ohakana Island, located near Ōhope, were vaccinated.

According to the Bay of Plenty DHB, the vaccination rate for the Wainui area - which includes Ohakana - is 65.3 per cent fully vaccinated and 76.5 per cent partially vaccinated.

Resident Gerry Magner said the island had about 15 other residents.

Magner said Covid-19 was unlikely to cause problems on the island because people kept to themselves and worked their own land.

"The chances of catching something on the island are basically zero.

"We might go six months without seeing anyone on the island. The only place you might meet people is at the boat ramp."

He said Ohakana residents who need a Covid-19 test would go into Whakatāne by boat.

He and his family have been vaccinated and haven't had any negative side effects.

"We're probably still as odd as we always were," he joked.

Mōtītī Island residents have also seen minimal changes to their lifestyle.

"It hasn't changed our lifestyle one bit," said Mōtītī Hauora chairwoman Mary Nuku.

"We look on it as our bubble being the whole of the island."

She said the north part of the island, where she lives, has about 30 residents, and the south has a further 30 transient workers. Nuku said the two parts "live in two different communities".

"We are isolated. We don't have tourists over here."

Nuku organised for a doctor to come and speak about Covid-19, and the community had the opportunity to ask questions.

But, she said many residents had chosen not to be vaccinated.

"Those are the younger ones who must read stories about different things.

"Us older ones, as soon as the injection came out we wanted to have it."

She believed only six of the northern residents were fully vaccinated.

Nuku wasn't concerned about widespread Covid-19 on Mōtītī.

"I think we would get on top of it [Covid] quite quickly. If anyone showed any sign of having it, they would be sent into town to get tested."

She said those who fly to Mōtītī will now be tested before they board the plane.

"Other than that, we live quite normally over here. Nothing's changed."

Bay of Plenty DHB Covid-19 senior response officer Brent Gilbert de Rios said vaccinations on Mōtītī Island have been ongoing.

There were two vaccination clinics on the island on September 6 and November 12.

He said vaccinating the islands is crucial to the Bay's management of Covid-19.

"The Bay of Plenty DHB wants to make it as easy and accessible as possible for the diverse communities across the rohe to get the vaccine, including island residents.

"To date, this is being achieved through collaboration and mahi tahi with island residents, hauora, and Māori, iwi and hapū vaccine providers.

"The best thing people can do right now is to get vaccinated if they aren't already, and if they are, to talk to those that aren't."