Ilka Beekhuis, who last month wrote to board chief executive Chris Fleming questioning the ethics of mandatory vaccination of SDHB staff, yesterday voted against a motion put at a board meeting to congratulate those involved with the vaccination programme — under which 90% of the eligible population have received their first dose — and expressing a commitment to vaccinate as many people as possible.
Ms Beekhuis, who has previously said she is not anti-vaccine but wants people to have a choice about whether they are vaccinated or not, was the sole board member to oppose the motion.
The wording of the motion, put by board chairman Pete Hodgson, took several hours to work out as members wrestled with a wording which placed the emphasis they desired on promoting vaccination among Maori, the group least vaccinated in the South.
However, Ms Beekhuis had other issues with the motion.
‘‘With all due respect to the severity of Covid and the impact that it will have on our community and our staff, I don’t feel comfortable supporting the motion because of the unknowns surrounding vaccine reaction,’’ she told the meeting.
Mr Hodgson asked Ms Beekhuis if she wanted to abstain or vote against the motion, and she said she was sorry but would vote against.
Earlier, board member Tuari Potiki said while he was pleased about the SDHB hitting the 90% overall first-dose mark, he still harboured some doubts about that figure.
‘‘I have a concern that the 10% unvaccinated will be brown people because my understanding is that something like 50% of the Maori population is double vaccinated,’’ he said.
‘‘I just want to make sure when we talk about how great it is, that we remember within the 90% we have a significant percentage of very, very vulnerable unvaccinated people.’’
Board chief executive Chris Fleming said the most recent data he had was that 76% of Maori had had at least one dose of vaccine and 59% had had two.
‘‘Pasifika is 91% and 79% and non-Maori/non-Pacific are 93% and 75%, so there are the numbers in black and white. It is a problem.’’
Mr Potiki said once all populations reached 90% double vaccination there would really be something to celebrate, but the board needed to be cautious of that figure until then.
Mr Hodgson said for the SDHB to reach 90% first doses for Maori required a further 3324 people to be vaccinated.
Vaccine rollout incident controller Hamish Brown said his team was delighted to have reached 90% of southerners having had a first dose, but it was also well aware of the equity concerns raised by Mr Potiki.
‘‘The team won’t stop — it will keep going — and there are a range of initiatives going on for the next few weeks to target vulnerable groups.’’
- The SDHB motion voted for by all members apart from Ilka Beekhuis: ‘‘Southern DHB, thankful to all those involved in the Covid-19 vaccine rollout programme, acknowledges achieving the milestone of 90% of the population receiving at least one dose; AND, with a commitment to the equitable protection of our people, is determined to meet a result of at least 90% double vaccinated for all ethnic groups (Maori, Pasifika, Asian, European and other), all age groups, and all urban and rural communities across the district.’’
