Northland's iwi border control is encouraging all Māori to get vaccinated before COVID inevitably reaches the region.
The iwi border controls sprung back into action two weeks ago when Northland was plunged into alert level 3 after two women, later found to have COVID-19, visited the area.
They used fake documents and were uncooperative with health authorities.
While Northland appears to have dodged Delta this time, iwi border control believe it's only a matter of weeks before COVID-19 reaches every part of Te Tai Tokerau.
"It won't take long for it to blow out of control and once it's out of control it will be impossible to pull it back. We will have to let it run its course and that would be devastating to our communities," Te Tai Tokerau spokesperson Rueben Taipari tells The Hui.
The border control worker is an organic farmer by day and says he was initially hesitant to get vaccinated because of his natural lifestyle. But after researching how the Spanish flu decimated the people of the North, he changed his mind.
"Overseas experience shows if you are indigenous, vaccinate your people, because we are the most highest at risk, we have the worst statistics of social statistics or economic or health statistics. Māori don't have the luxury to play politics in this particular scenario. We don't have the luxury to get involved in conspiracies," he says.
While Northland continues to lag behind the national average, nearly 5000 people were vaccinated in the region on Super Saturday, including 1000 Māori.
Taipari says he wants Māori who are hesitating to realise it's a medical issue, not a political one.
"Look at the medical evidence. Do it from a medical perspective, put aside all of those conspiracies at this time and do what's best for your whanau."
Made with support from Te Māngai Pāho and NZ On Air.
