Priyanca Radhakrishnan
Wellington, November 11, 2021
A new Vaccine Uptake Fund has been announced to provide support for activities aimed at increasing Covid-19 vaccination in our harder-to-reach ethnic communities.
Alongside this new fund, the government has shown its commitment to getting our communities vaccinated by doubling the amount of money for the Ethnic Communities Communications Fund, to support 71 initiatives aimed at boosting vaccination rates by eliminating the barriers and countering misinformation faced by our ethnic communities.
Removing barriers for better reach
The Vaccine Uptake Fund is set to support Covid-19 vaccination rates among ethnic communities and will help further increase vaccinations across the country. We are delighted to see our ethnic communities continuing to play their part in getting New Zealand vaccinated against Covid-19. And now, we can further support them to connect with those harder to reach people, while removing barriers to vaccination that exist.
Communities have told us that being able to provide things like transport, interpreters, collateral and venue hire would make a real difference. This new Vaccine Uptake Fund will pay for this sort of activity and make it easier for people to get vaccinated.
The new $1 million Vaccine Uptake Fund is in addition to the $2 million we have committed for the Ethnic Communications Fund, which supported 71 initiatives across a broad range of communities throughout the country.
Financial support to share information
The Ethnic Communities Communications Fund helps communities share vaccination information within their communities and has had a huge response. As a result, the funding was doubled from $1 million to $2 million to help boost vaccination rates among our ethnic communities.
Successful initiatives focused on translation services, educational and community wellbeing. The initiatives will support doctors, medical professionals, respected community, youth, and faith-based leaders from a range of ethnic communities to engage through online community health forums, educational workshops, videos, and social media platforms focused on the vaccination journey. Misinformation about vaccines is an issue for some ethnic communities and will be addressed through initiatives using community forums, videos, social media platforms and radio broadcasts.
The Application Process
New Zealand is a diverse country with over 213 ethnic communities represented who collectively speak over 160 languages, have varied needs, and may access information differently. Ethnic community organisations understand these diverse needs and are best placed to reach those who need a little additional support to get vaccinated. These two funds are and will continue to support them to be able to do this effectively.
I encourage all community organisations who require further support to get vaccination rates as high as possible within our ethnic communities to make an application to the Vaccine Uptake Fund.
Funding for both programmes have been provided by the Ministry of Health and was set up in partnership with the Ministry for Ethnic Communities. Community organisations and individuals can apply for funding now at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities website.
For application and further information please click here.
Priyanca Radhakrishnan is Minister for Ethnic Communities, Community and Voluntary Sector and Youth.
