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National | John Tamihere

Whānau Ora scores major win over access to Māori vaccination data

With New Zealand only weeks away from Christmas Māori vaccination rates are still lagging behind the rest of the country.

Whānau Ora chief executive John Tamihere says the horse has already bolted.

"Mainstream vaccinations will be at 90%, and the government will just open the gate, and that will expose a lot of our people, and it's unfair and unjust."

But John says he will take the win from a court case he took to the Wellington High Court to force the Ministry of Health to give it detailed data about unvaccinated Māori around the country.

"It's a big precedent- for all Māori up and down the country in regard to Treaty rights and entitlement."

In the Wellington High Court, Justice Cheryl Gwyn ruled the Ministry of Health should hand over detailed data and had failed to meet its Treaty of Waitangi partnership obligations.

Vindication

"The decision was to provide only the anonymised, mapping-level data, on the basis that the ministry might, on some unspecified date, and on the basis of some unidentified criteria, review the decision. While the court’s role is limited to scrutinising the decision-making process, rather than the decision itself, it is difficult to see how that decision could have been informed by the principles of partnership and options, in particular,"

According to Whānau Ora head John Tamihere, it's a vindication of his attacks on the Ministry of Health and its failures.

The judge found the Ministry's refusal to share Māori vaccination data was inconsistent. It had already given Healthline contact numbers for nearly six thousand Māori in Auckland, which it realised was necessary for mainstream providers to effectively target unvaccinated people but gave Whānau Ora only randomised street data.

Tamihere says it's a disgrace that Whānau Ora had to resort to litigation to get the information it needed.

"The day a Māori agency stands up and says,' What about us? Can we get our own data? No. Why? We don't think you're good enough'."

Te Ao Māori News asked the Ministry of Health for comment. It replied: "The ministry acknowledges the court's findings and will be reconsidering its decision in line with the court's decision. We will be making no further comments at this stage."

The ministry was given three days to provide data to the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency.