How racism was identified in initial media reporting of Covid in Aotearoa

Māori established pop-up Covid clinics to support the vaccination cause. Photo / Bevan Conley

Ki te whaiao, ki te ao Mārama report:

National surveys in February and March 2021 showed that racist incidents increased during the pandemic, particularly for Māori, Pacific and Asian respondents. The same surveys also found strong support to stop or reduce immigration, with a particular focus on immigrants and tourists from China, the United States, and international students.

Reporting on the survey noted that “discrimination and racism triggered by Covid-19 are likely to compound disproportionate economic and mental health impacts among minorities” and could also negatively affect the uptake of Covid-19 vaccination among these groups due to experiences of racism in healthcare settings.

Racism targeted at specific communities occurred during the Delta outbreak in August 2021, with anti-Asian sentiment directed towards Indian and South Asian communities.

Asian communities in Aotearoa felt increasingly unsafe.

Discrimination and harassment of this nature is also associated with a rise in depressive symptoms and reluctance to seek medical help.

Early in this outbreak, the virus also affected a Pacific church community. Mainstream media identified the ethnicity of this community, which lead to racist vilification of the Samoan community.

This is an example of the ‘othering’ of non-Pākehā communities that is at the core of racism.

The swift lockdown in Aotearoa during the first wave of Covid-19 in March 2020, which was associated with international travel, initially prevented the virus from taking hold in vulnerable Māori and Pacific communities.

However, the Government did not initially take the advice of Māori and Pacific health experts, or its officials, that the health and communications response needed to target Māori and Pacific peoples first. This advice was based on the younger age profile of those communities, and the systemic racism in the health system that produces inequitable health outcomes for Māori and Pacific communities.

Nor did the Government prioritise the vaccine rollout for these groups in early 2021 as advised.

Māori and Pacific community leaders were ready to respond and mobilise in their communities, but needed funding and support to do so.

The Government eventually provided additional funding and targeted support for Māori and Pacific health providers in August 2021 to boost vaccinations and prepare communities to combat Covid-19.

Additionally, the Government met regularly with community leaders, although this occurred after communities had already mobilised to protect their own.

John Tamihere.

Recalling the 1918 flu epidemic, in which Māori died at seven times the rate of non-Māori, and the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, where the death rate was 2.6 times that of non-Māori, Māori mobilised early to respond to the pandemic.

This quick action was an expression of tino rangatiratanga and of Māori people’s distrust of government, generated by the intergenerational experience of systemic racism.

In October 2021, John Tamihere, CEO of the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency, took the Ministry of Health to the High Court and successfully argued that vaccination data was essential to save Māori lives. The Government has since worked more closely with community leaders and with Māori and Pacific health providers, which helped lift the vaccination rates in both communities.