7. Question No. 7—COVID-19 ResponseDr TRACEY McLELLAN (Labour—Banks Peninsula) to the Minister for COVID-19 ResponseQuestion No. 7—COVID-19 Response7. Dr TRACEY McLELLAN (Labour—Banks Peninsula) to the Minister for COVID-19 Response: What progress has been made on the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine programme?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister for COVID-19 Response): Up to today we've delivered 135585 doses of the Pfizer vaccine across the country. In the last 24 hours we've delivered 7695 vaccinations bringing the weekly total to 34378. Forty-three percent of all of those vaccinations have been delivered in Auckland with 19 percent of them going to Māori and Pasifika populations. A large-scale vaccination centre is opening up today in Mount Wellington which is our second large vaccination centre capable of delivering vaccines to at least a thousand people a day when operating at full capacity. Vaccines will be initially used to vaccinate St John Ambulance staff and police. It'll operate by appointment only to those people who are based in predominantly Mount Wellington.Dr Tracey McLellan: What forecasts has he seen on the ongoing roll-out of the vaccine programme?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I released earlier today the breakdown of the numbers the DHBs are expected to reach over the next 2½ months. As it stands they are on track to deliver more than one million Pfizer doses to New Zealanders in our priority groups by the end of June. That's based on what DHBs have indicated they are confident they will be able to deliver on. It's being published online today and it will be updated weekly on the Ministry of Health website so people can track progress. It shows the planned vaccinations each week.Dr Tracey McLellan: Is he confident that the planned roll-out of the vaccination programme to the end of June is achievable?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Yes. As I indicated we've been working with each DHB on their individual vaccination plan to result in the forecast numbers that we've released today. What we've asked of DHBs in putting these forecasts together is that they be upfront and realistic about what they will be able to achieve in that time frame. That means that we can ensure that any resources can be targeted to those areas that need additional resources in order to meet the goals set in the plan. These are forecasts and not targets. They are a floor not a ceiling.Dr Tracey McLellan: What is being done to ensure the roll-out of the vaccine programme is being carried out in an equitable manner?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: We know that Māori and Pacific peoples face persistent and pervasive health inequalities in New Zealand. Existing immunisation programmes have not always delivered equitable outcomes for them and therefore tailored approaches are the most effective way to promote uptake in those communities. The ministry and district health boards are partnering together with Māori and Pacific health providers to deliver vaccinations to their local communities and to meet demand beyond their enrolled populations. Over the last week for example Manurewa Marae has established the first marae-based vaccination centre and is offering information and support to people in their community so that they can make informed decisions in a whānau-centred way.Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: What is the Minister going to do to increase the uptake including a tailor-made position of Māori vaccination levels given that Māori have the lowest vaccination level of any group so far despite being the most at risk?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: As I just indicated I think I just gave the member an example of what I hope to see a lot more of in the coming weeks which is vaccination approaches that are as close to the communities that we need to increase vaccination rates within as possible. So in terms of Māori I would expect to see more marae-based vaccination. In terms of smaller local communities where we know a number of Māori live they are a priority to get into those communities as quickly as we can so we'd be looking to scale those up. The whānau-based approach that we'll be taking will ensure that whilst the sequencing framework will guide decisions about the overall order of that people will not be turned away. So if a whānau show up for example with a number of people who meet the criteria and some people who don't the whānau will still be vaccinated. It is important that we're pragmatic in our decisions about making sure that people get vaccinated.Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: When can whānau expect to be contacted to be up-taking this vaccination offer?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Some of that has already happened. So if they're front-line border workers for example or the families and whānau of front-line border workers key workers we have been actively in the process of contacting them now. That's predominantly being led by those administering the vaccine so the primary health organisations their GP practice and so on. We will have very proactive outreach programmes to reach those communities that have otherwise proven hard to reach. We know with other vaccination and immunisation campaigns that our Māori and Pacific communities have often been more difficult to reach with those campaigns so we are very very focused on making sure that've got a lot of resource targeted to make sure that we are really reaching into those communities.