Te Rūnanga o Whaingaroa (TROW) in Northland is putting out some incentives for vaccination that a lot of marae committees will love to get their hands on.
In its Vax to the Max campaign, TROW is offering people who get vaccinated the chance to vote for a marae to win one of three prizes. The third prize is mattresses, the second is urupā and garden accessories, and the grand prize is a water tank installation or a mower to the value of $8,000.
"We know our whānau care about our marae, our wāhi tapu and our whakapapa," TROW spokesperson Raniera Kaio says.
"This isn't just an incentive to help encourage vaccinations, we want to also be able to thank our people for doing what they can to keep our iwi and hapū safe."
Kaio hopes that it also tugs on the competitive nature of Māori.
"We've had to cancel our annual Piri Mokena tournament. (a marae vs marae tournament held in Kaeo that features netball, rugby and a range of activities for tamariki). Our whānau may not be able to go out on the field but we hope they bring that competitive nature to the vaccinations and win prizes for their marae."
Most successful for Māori vaccines
The initiative launched alongside the national Super Saturday campaign. Like many other Māori health providers around the motu, the team set up in Kaeo and had shoes to give away from the team at Bald Angels in Kerikeri, prize packs from the Northland DHB and every vaccination was a step closer to getting their marae a new mower.
TROW's site in Kaeo was one of the 783 vaccination sites across the country pushing for New Zealand's biggest vaccination day so far. A total of 129,995 doses were administered, 39,024 of those first doses and 90,971-second doses. Of those 21,000 doses given to Māori, 10,941 were first doses and 10,874 were second doses. These numbers make super Saturday the most successful day for Māori vaccine numbers since the first vial of Pfizer reached our shores.
TROW chief executive Bree Davis says the efforts put in by the team were a huge success.
She says most people who arrived at the vaccination site were both Māori and after their first dose of Pfizer.
Davis says her team "will always be available to answer any questions whānau have about vaccination and wellbeing generally."