Bosses get call from iwi collective in vaccination drive

The Ranga Tupua iwi collective wants to station its mobile clinics at major work sites in Whanganui, South Taranaki, Rangitīkei and the Waimarino. Photo/Te Ranga Tupua

Shearing gangs, market gardeners, meat workers, millworkers and farmworkers could be in line for Covid-19 jabs at their workplaces as an iwi collective chips away at the task to lift Māori vaccination numbers.

The Ranga Tupua iwi collective says it has contacted big employers in Whanganui, South Taranaki, Rangitīkei and the Waimarino.

Vaccination co-lead Elijah Pue said the iwi collective has offered to bring mobile clinics to major rural work sites for a day or half a day.

"We've been in touch with most of the big employers – Ātihau-Whanganui Incorporation, WPI, Ruapehu Shearing, some of the market gardeners.

"We're doing the same for the meatworks out at Waitōtara. In Bulls, in Rangitīkei it's the same there with Te Kōtuku Hauora and Mōkai Pātea going to some of those big employers."

Pue said the mobile clinics are also vaccinating at big events in the region, such as a recent touch event in Taihape.

"We're also understanding what other events might be occurring in the rest of the rohe. All of these places where our people are going to frequent over the next six to eight weeks, we really need to be there."

The iwi collective is into the second half of its 15-week rapid response rollout to the least vaccinated areas, using mobile clinics run by iwi providers Te Oranganui in Whanganui, Mōkai Pātea Services and Ngā Wairiki Ngāti Apa's Te Kōtuku Hauora in Rangitīkei, and Ngāti Rangi in the Waimārino.

Fewer than 460 vaccinations are needed for Māori 12 years and over in the region to reach the government's 90% first vaccination milestone.

However, vaccinations for tamariki Māori aged 5 to 11 remain very low, with only 451 or 17 percent getting their first shot – the second lowest rate in the country.

• Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air