The 90 per cent target for double doses should be hit in early December in the Lakes District Health Board area.
But some health providers are concerned about Māori reaching that figure, while another says there needs to be a focus on young people.
The DHB is facing challenges of reaching and engaging with Māori, 19- to 50-year-olds and rurally isolated populations, the board's chief operating officer Alan Wilson said.
To address these challenges, the DHB would target school vaccination programmes and industrial areas, and it was considering door-knocking in areas with low vaccination rates, Wilson said.
The DHB would also recruit more general practices and pharmacies for vaccination and utilise rural and marae-based outreach and drive-throughs.
Te Arawa Whānau Ora chairman Te Ururoa Flavell. Photo / Andrew Warner
Te Arawa Whānau Ora chairman Te Ururoa Flavell said Māori leaders across the board said we needed to "push harder" on Māori vaccinations "to get our people over the line".
Sixty-four per cent of Māori living in the Lakes DHB region have received one vaccination and 45 per cent have received both doses, according to data published by the Ministry of Health on October 28.
Flavell said the Government still needed to learn that a "for Māori by Māori" approach was the way to go because they could reach those communities, he said.
"But we are sadly screaming out for resources by way of data, back-up support and allowing and backing Māori providers to get in amongst those communities.
"It's just over the border - can we wait until December?"
Flavell also acknowledged the "huge amount" of work that people were doing to get vaccinated.
Korowai Aroha Health Centre chief executive Hariata Vercoe. Photo / Supplied
Korowai Aroha Health Centre chief executive Hariata Vercoe said the region would be "pushing hard" to reach that target.
"We may hit it for the overall population but I'm not sure about our Māori population."
Vercoe said she was "really concerned" about the Māori vaccination rates.
Large parts of the Māori population needed to be "more convinced that it's the right thing for their whānau", she said.
"We certainly have pockets of the community that we need to do some really close contact with and do a lot of education and information sessions.
"It's always been a face-to-face conversation that we have with our whānau, so we need to be quite deliberate in making sure that we give them time to have that face-to-face and to make an informed decision for their whānau."
Vercoe said Korowai Aroha was part of a "wider momentum" doing vaccines at emergency housing, marae and community buildings.
Three Lakes Clinic GP Dr Cate Mills. Photo / Supplied
Three Lakes Clinic GP Dr Cate Mills said she was "really optimistic" and "excited" to hear the DHB expected to hit this target in early December.
But she shared Flavell's and Vercoe's concerns about meeting the 90 per cent target for Māori vaccination rates.
She also understood that it was predominantly younger people who were unvaccinated.
Mills said it was "difficult" to target young people because there had been several initiatives already aimed at them that had "not been very successful".
This included making vaccines available out of hours, in convenient locations and removing the requirement for appointments, she said.
"It's about the provision of good information particularly online and on social media platforms to kind of counteract the misinformation that they are getting."
Responding to Flavell's and Vercoe's concerns, Wilson said the Lakes DHB agreed that getting 90 per cent of the Māori population vaccinated by December was a challenge and was doing all it could to increase Māori vaccination rates.
The DHB had been working with local iwi and Māori health providers from the "very beginning" of the programme to ensure the rollout was acceptable for Māori.
It was also one of the first rohe to provide marae-based outreach clinics and clinics in rural communities where there are large numbers of Māori, he said.
Lakes DHB had promoted "by Māori for Māori services" as a way to deliver for many Māori, and ensured all mainstream services were provided in a culturally appropriate way, Wilson said.
Toi Te Ora Public Health medical officer Dr Jim Miller said there was also a "significant number" of people over 50 who had not been vaccinated, he said.
"This is also an important group as the risk of severe disease increases with age.
"Covid-19 can be a very serious illness and it is quite clear that it is largely a disease of the unvaccinated."
By getting vaccinated and encouraging those around you, you will protect yourself, your whānau and your community, he said.
University of Canterbury professor Michael Plank. Photo / Supplied
University of Canterbury's Professor Michael Plank, an expert in modelling complex biological and social systems, said achieving these targets was "certainly possible" provided people had "really good access" to the vaccine and to "good-quality information" from trusted sources.
Plank said some impediments to reaching the 90 per cent target included a lack of access to the vaccine - for example, where it was difficult for people to get time off work or needing to travel to a vaccination centre.
"Because of the interval between doses, it will take a minimum of three weeks from when each DHB reaches 90 per cent first dose to get to 90 per cent fully vaccinated."
The Ministry of Health was approached for a response to comments made by Te Ururoa Flavell.
