Less trust among Māori in vaccines and GPs, study suggests

A new study has highlighted an ethnic divide over attitudes toward vaccination - something that could prove a big issue when a Covid-19 shot arrives. Photo / Mark Mitchell

A new study has highlighted an ethnic divide over attitudes toward vaccination – something that could prove a big issue when a Covid-19 shot arrives.

The just-published insights, led by University of Auckland researcher Carol Lee, focused on what people think about vaccine safety, which remains a major reason why some people delay or refuse vaccinations.

It follows recent findings by Lee that suggested around 30 per cent of Kiwis have been growing less trusting in childhood vaccine safety over time.

In the new paper, more than 17,000 participants in the long-running New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS) were quizzed on their satisfaction with healthcare access, their views on GPs, and how much they agreed that that standard childhood vaccinations are safe.

The results showed Pakeha people had slightly higher perceptions of GPs and agreement with vaccine safety than Asians – or 74.7 per cent compared with 72.3 per cent.

But there was a much bigger difference with Pacific people (65.8 per cent) and Māori (59.4 per cent).

Delving deeper into the data, Lee found higher vaccine safety agreement was "significantly and strongly" linked with being non-religious, born overseas and having a partner among Pacific peoples.

"As for Asian peoples, men, younger and more educated individuals, and those with greater perceived GP cultural respect showed higher agreement," she said.

"In terms of healthcare-related factors, it appears that general satisfaction with GP services and healthcare access have key influence on vaccine safety attitudes among Europeans and Māori, while perceived GP cultural respect is more important among Asian peoples."

Unexpectedly, the data didn't show any strong links between healthcare access and GP perceptions with vaccine safety agreement for Pacific people.

Rather, religious beliefs were a more important factor among the group.

Lee said that, while it was fascinating to tease out which specific factors played a part, it wasn't surprising to see such differences across ethnic groups.

"Each ethnic group has a unique history, set of health beliefs, cultural values, and distinct experiences of healthcare, including interactions with GPs," she said.

"These factors all contribute to the shaping of one's vaccination attitudes, and thus it is reasonable to expect that distinct ethnic groups would show differences in levels and key determinants of confidence in vaccine safety."

Lee felt the findings highlighted the need to tailor culturally-relevant interventions for different ethnic groups.

"This is especially important for Māori as they are more likely to hold negative views of vaccine safety."

It could also prove all the more important when the time came to roll out a coronavirus vaccine.

"Currently, we do not know the extent to which New Zealanders' attitudes towards standard childhood vaccinations may differ from that towards a newly developed pandemic vaccine," she said.

"However, given our findings, it appears likely that there may be important ethnic differences in perceptions of a Covid-19 vaccine."

Meanwhile, a separate vaccination-focused paper, also led by Lee, has indicated mothers may have more influence than fathers when it comes to making decisions about vaccinating their kids.

Data from the small sample of 68 couples it drew on found that higher levels of confidence in vaccine safety among mothers was linked to higher likelihood of children being fully vaccinated, whereas paternal vaccine confidence showed no significant link.

Lee and her colleagues suggested that strategies to boost trust in vaccines among women could improve child vaccination levels, as well as encouraging fathers' involvement in decision-making.