There were 198 new cases of Covid-19 in the community on Friday, with new cases in Auckland, Northland, the Bay of Plenty, Wairarapa, Waikato and Canterbury.
Video / George Heard / Michael Craig / Dean Purcell
"Stay away" is the message from some of New Zealand's most-vulnerable communities, preparing to protect themselves from an influx of Covid cases this summer.
Iwi and community leaders in Te Tai Tokerau and the East Cape have called for holidaymakers to avoid their areas, suggesting a repeat of checkpoints used at the start of the pandemic, citing pockets of low vaccination coverage and poor access to healthcare.
"We are asking for holiday makers, those who do not whakapapa to Te Whānau a Apanui to refrain from entering our tribal territories this summer," iwi response member and Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi said.
It comes as the New Zealand Māori Council lodges an application for an urgent Waitangi Tribunal into the Government's pandemic it says prejudices Māori, and the Iwi Chairs Forum this week saying Māori will "bear the brunt of inequity caused by Covid".
The current outbreak has disproportionately impacted Māori, who now make up 42 per cent (2763) of the 6532 cases, despite accounting for 17 per cent of the population.
Just over 91 per cent of the general population aged over 12 has received one dose of the Pfizer vaccine, and 82 per cent are fully vaccinated. But for Māori the rates are 78 and 62 per cent respectively.
Māori at a population level were disadvantaged by the vaccine rollout, which focused on older groups first.
The disparity has decreased in the past few months after it opened up to all eligible age groups, and Māori have been vaccinated at a much faster rate than all other ethnicities (50 per cent faster than Pākehā).
However, experts warn if the rates don't increase dramatically when Auckland's borders are loosened on December 15 and Covid-19 allowed to spread further, the impacts could be devastating for Māori.
Associate Health Minister (Māori) Peeni Henare. Photo / Mark Mitchell
On Friday, Te Whānau a Apanui put out a call for holidaymakers to stay away over summer, and whānau returning to get vaccinated and a return a negative test.
"Our healthcare system is small and can currently only cater to our population living here," local GP and iwi health lead Dr Rachel Thomson said.
"We need to ensure that you are safe when you enter the iwi and that our people at home are safe too."
It came after Māori TV reported leaders in Te Tai Tokerau, Northland, this week also called for visitors to hold off until vaccination rates were higher.
Just 58 per cent of the eligible Māori population in Northland are fully vaccinated.
"Te Tai Tokerau will not be the collateral damage - you might as well send body bags," Ngāti Kahu chair Professor Mākere Mutu said.
Aperahama Edwards said the risk was too great to soften the border and urged northern relations who resided in Auckland to hold off heading home.
On Thursday, the NZ Māori Council applied to the Waitangi Tribunal for an urgent inquiry into the Government's pandemic response for Māori, claiming it had not listened to their concerns.
National secretary Peter Fraser said the council and iwi leaders told the Government during consultation over the Covid-19 Protection Framework - traffic light system - they wanted a Māori target 95 per cent full vaccination rate for Māori reached first.
This was to factor in the known statistical undercount for Māori - about 70,000 people - and younger age profile, meaning many Māori were not eligible to be vaccinated.
They also wanted the five to 11-year-old age group to prioritise Māori, and greater planning with Māori for at-home isolation.
"For a middle-class family they might be able to put someone in a spare room, but for many whānau living in overcrowded homes, in poverty, with other stresses, one case will quickly end up with the whole whānau infected."
Fraser said they were conscious of the lockdown's mental toll on Aucklanders and so were not currently calling for the December 15 to be extended, but to work closer with the Government to ensure Māori were better protected.
Epidemiologist Dr Michael Baker said as Covid-19 spread around the country it would seek out unvaccinated communities, which currently were disproportionately Māori.
"I can understand the community responses. Covid is very difficult to predict, but it is likely there will be tragedies and far more will be in the Māori population."
This week the Government approved nearly $50 million to boost Māori vaccination rates - part of the $120m Māori Communities Covid-19 Fund, with more to be distributed and $60m also to be used to support Māori to protect their communities against Covid.
It was part of an effective push in the past few months to resource Māori groups to lead vaccination campaigns.
A couple of months ago Māori first-dose rates overall were about 50 per cent behind the non-Māori rate. As of today the rate was 17 per cent behind, and continuing to decline.
Associate Health Minister (Māori) Peeni Henare said a month's lead-in time had been given for lifting the Auckland boundary so New Zealanders could prepare.
"The most important thing everyone can do is get vaccinated and there is time for Māori to get both shots before the boundary lifts."
The traffic light system was better designed to protect against Covid-19 than the alert levels, he said.
Regions with the lowest vaccination rates were likely to transition to the red setting and face greater restrictions than they currently did at alert level 2, he said.
"There will be some who will think the Government is moving too fast and we hear that.
"That is why we are putting in public health measures like vaccine or testing requirements for those leaving Auckland and restrictions on high-risk settings at red to keep protecting people from the virus in the locations with the lowest vaccination rates."
On the Waitangi Tribunal claim Henare said officials were working on a response.
There were 198 cases of Covid-19 reported on Friday, including 152 in Auckland and 30 in the Waikato.
Cases were also confirmed in Northland, the Bay of Plenty, Wairarapa and Canterbury, and a weak positive case has been recorded in Wellington. A person in their 80s had also died.
