Whānau Ora waiting for Ministry to ‘reach out’ on Māori vaccination data

eHealthNews.nz: Covid-19

Whānau Ora waiting for Ministry to ‘reach out’ on Māori vaccination data

Sunday, 7 November 2021

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NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Whanau Ora vaccination The Ministry of Health has again declined to release North Island Māori Covid-19 vaccination data to Whānau Ora, but says it is open to sharing some individual level data with the organisation.

The Ministry says it will invite Whānau Ora’s Commissioning Agency (WOCA) and Whānau Tahi to work in partnership with it, relevant iwi and local service delivery providers to identify where Māori vaccine outreach is most needed and the appropriate scope of data sharing in each case.

Chief operating officer at Whānau Tahi Ltd, Daymon Nin, says the organisation will act in good faith and is waiting for the Ministry to reach out, as it has promised to do.

“We will act in good faith around a set of data they have indicated some willingness to share,” he tells eHealthNews.nz.

“That doesn’t preclude further action to compel something different, but there will be a good faith effort to see if we can work something out. If it doesn’t resolve to anything helpful, we may well head back to court.”

To support their vaccination work, Māori health commissioning agency Whānau Ora asked the Ministry to share information about unvaccinated Māori in Te Ika-a-Māui/North Island – their personal details, contact details, vaccination status and vaccination booking status.

In October, the Ministry confirmed that it would provide the Covid-19 vaccination and booking status data of people who had previously been provided services by one of Whānau Ora’s Commissioning Agency (WOCA) partners.

For those who had not received services, the Ministry would supply anonymised (to street level) mapping representations that show areas with unvaccinated communities.

WOCA challenged the Ministry’s decision and a recent High Court decision set it aside, directing the Ministry to “urgently retake the decision, within three working days”.

In a letter to Whānau Ora chief executive John Tamihere, director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield confirmed the data sought would not be released.

He says the Ministry considered the views of Māori leaders, Māori health experts and Māori organisations and these revealed there are “multiple interests at play in the provision of individual identifiable Māori health data”.

It also considered current vaccine uptake and coverage and “concluded it would not be appropriate to adopt a blanket approach to the sharing of Māori health information you have requested on a North Island basis.”

In a statement, Bloomfield says the Ministry is “open to continuing to share data where appropriate, including some individual level data, but not on the scale WOCA currently seeks.

“The Ministry has proposed a way forward that would open the door for further sharing of personal health information of individual Māori in specific locations, with WOCA.”

Tamihere says the latest decision to deny data access puts thousands of Māori at risk.

“Every day delayed, is a day closer to Māori feeling the full brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Tamihere says.

“We must have immediate access to that data so we can give our people an opportunity to be vaccinated and a chance.”