New data shows Pacific vaccination rates by suburb in New Zealand

The Health Ministry has released details of vaccination rates for every suburb in the country, including rates for Pasifika and Maori.

A number of the highest vaccination rates among Pasifika are in densely-populated areas like South Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

In the South Auckland area, some suburbs with a population of more than 2,000 Pasifika, saw vaccination rates for the first dose in the early 70s.

This included Sutton Park (72 per cent), Clover Park North (71 per cent) and Otara East, Mangere Mascot and Mangere Central (all at 70 per cent).

On the overall vaccination chart, the lowest rates for the Counties-Manukau District Health Board were Otara West (62 per cent received their first dose; 36 per cent the second), Ferguson (64 and 35 per cent respectively) and Otara Central (64 and 39 per cent).

Within these suburbs, 66 per cent of Pasifika in Otara West have been given their first dose, while 38 per cent of Pasifika in Otara West were fully jabbed.

In Ferguson, 66 per cent of Pasifika in the suburb received their first dose and 36 per cent of Pasifika in Ferguson were given their second.

In Otara Central, the vaccination rates among Pasifika stood at 65 per cent (first dose) and 39 per cent (second dose).

Waitangirua was Wellington's lowest vaccinated suburb in the Capital and Coast DHB region, standing at 63 per cent for first doses and 35 per cent for second doses.

For Pacific people in Waitangirua, they had a similar rate to their suburb's average, with 63 per cent of Pasifika given their first and 36 per cent fully vaccinated. 

The overall charts showed the lowest vaccinated suburb in Canterbury was Aranui at 55 per cent for first doses and 29 per cent for second doses.

Within Aranui, 61 per cent of Pasifika in the suburb had been given their first jab, while 40 per cent had received their second, with a total of around 530 Pacific people in Aranui.

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins encourages everyone to look at the suburb-by-suburb statistics and get the numbers up in their own suburb.

He hoped community groups would use the data to help target vaccinations among harder-to-reach groups.

The Health Ministry expects to update the suburb-by-suburb data on a weekly basis.