Te Roopu Tautoko Ki Te Tonga is offering $50 grocery vouchers for people to get flu shots and Covid boosters at the Kensington Oval every Saturday and Sunday of this month and next.
The immunisation events are funded by Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora.
Event co-ordinator Rhonda Ross said Te Roopu Tautoko Ki Te Tonga was a community organisation that helped people "find their path".
On Thursday, about 40 kaumatua went to the organisation’s centre in Wolseley St for a ukulele group that shared kai together.
After seeing limited resources were available to vaccinate Maori, the organisation contracted nurses to deliver about 1600 vaccines, 100 per day, to those who needed them.
Mrs Ross said Māori immunisation was really low and although the government wanted 95% vaccination by June next year, it had pulled the funding.
People were not getting immunised because of financial barriers.
"You can’t get a free shot now unless you’re within certain categories.
"There is a lot of working poor whānau with kids for who $30 a pop to get get the whanau vaccinated is a bridge too far."
Organising the immunisations was a logistical nightmare, she said
"The red tape involved in this is just absolutely insane."
Ms Ross said offering $50 grocery vouchers with the vaccinations was a good way to counter financial barriers.
"We’re trying to help fill pantries for school holidays and for winter so people have good kai in their bellies."
Additionally, the vaccinations were timely with the onset of winter and the increase in sickness that came with it.
She said the organisation was "taking the mountain to Mohammed" by bringing the vaccinations to the public at the Kengsington Oval.
She said although it was a Māori organisation, everyone was eligible to receive a jab because "if our community is well and strong and healthy then logically Māori in our community are better off".
The organisation’s kaiawhina, Emma Philp, said it was "eternally frustrating " that the government was not providing resources despite its target to get 95% of Māori vaccinated.
However, Te Roopu Tautoko Ki Te Tonga was up for the challenge.
"We’re small but mighty," Mrs Philp said.
