Covid 19 coronavirus Delta outbreak: Whanganui Pasifika community leader calls for vaccination ramp-up

Nga Apai says Pasifika leaders must ensure their communities understand the importance of getting vaccinated. Photo / Bevan Conley

A Cook Islands community leader in Whanganui says more must be done to get the Pasifika community vaccinated against Covid.

The plea comes as contact tracers work to identify thousands of contacts in Auckland's latest outbreak.

Most of those who have tested positive for the virus have been identified as Pasifika, including a person who was among more than 500 people at an Assembly of God Church of Samoa service in Māngere on Sunday, August 15.

Members of the Pasifika community in the Whanganui region are being urged to get tested urgently if they feel unwell, attended the service or may have been in contact with people who were at the service.

Chair of the Cook Islands Community Group in Whanganui, Nga Apai, said the virus' rapid spread within a population known to be vulnerable shows the urgency of ramping up the push to vaccinate.

Pasifika leaders must work harder to ensure that their communities understand the "enormous importance" of getting vaccinated, he said.

More must be done to counter "fake news" circulating in social media about vaccinations and fear about immigration issues, both of which were contributing to low vaccination rates in Pasifika communities.

"There needs to be more advertising and awareness in our communities. There is fake information going around. To be blunt, people just need to pull their head in and get our people out there to be vaccinated. I just wish that more of our leaders, especially our church leaders, could convince our Pasifika people to go out and get the vaccine."

Apai said Pasifika leaders had been assured by the Government that information gathered for vaccination records would not be shared with other Government departments such as immigration.

"They confirmed when Pasifika community leaders met with the prime minister by zoom that there was never any intention to share information, especially with immigration," Apai said.

"Our last zoom with the prime minister was last week – and they confirmed again that there was no interchange of information. More leaders need to hear that from the appropriate people.

"Let's ensure that immigration is not an issue – we've just got to get our people vaccinated."

The Whanganui District Health Board says 608 doses have been delivered to the local Pasifika community, which numbers 1256 people aged 12 or over. A total of 33 per cent have had their first dose and 15 per cent are fully vaccinated.

These figures include 175 doses delivered at a vaccination clinic at the Cook Islands Community Hall in Gonville last week focusing on the Pasifika community and organised with the support of the Cook Islands Christian Church and the River City Fijian Assembly of God, which share the premises.

"They're low numbers – we need to get the percentages up around 80-90 per cent," Apai said.

"We need to get everybody vaccinated, not only the Pasifika community but everybody in our local community. If there's a case in our Whanganui region, that's going to affect everybody."

Last week's Pasifika community clinic opened for only three days instead of five due to the outbreak. Apai said numbers were low on the first day but by Friday the clinic was vaccinating big numbers.

He said although there are many vaccination clinics being held in the city and around the region, he would like to see another clinic opened urgently focusing on the Pasifika community "for as long as it takes to get the community in Tawhero, Gonville and Castlecliff vaccinated".

Church leaders had agreed to make the Cook Islands Community Hall in Gonville available to the DHB for further clinics, he said.

The Whanganui DHB said it is working hard to reach the most vulnerable.

"Our Pacific community has been a priority from the start of the vaccination rollout, as we appreciate this is a vulnerable population.

"We continue to work with our Pasifika partners and the community to ensure they are protected from the virus."

A clinic in Marton at Te Poho o Tuariki (the former Turakina Māori Girls College) on Sunday delivered 277 vaccinations, of which 75 were Pasifika and 61 Māori. On Monday this week, nearly 1000 doses were delivered across the region, among them 11 Pasifika.

The DHB has held a series of vaccination clinics at workplaces in Whanganui, including a number of large operations on Heads Rd with predominantly Māori and Pasifika workforces.

Vaccination facilities were being ramped up almost daily in the Whanganui, Rangitīkei and South Ruapehu area with vaccines being delivered seven days a week, the DHB said.

There are currently no Covid cases in the Whanganui DHB region. Nine in total have been recorded from the start of the pandemic, the last one in April 2020.

The DHB was unable to provide an ethnicity breakdown for Covid testing.