Lay summary
Vaccination is one of the most effective ways to protect whānau from preventable illness, yet coverage for tamariki Māori (68%) remains well-below the national average, and well-off track from the Government 2030 health target of 95%. Tamariki and whānau with lived experience of disability (tāngata whaikaha) face additional barriers to vaccination, exposing weaknesses in current models of care that consistently do not meet the needs of those at highest risk. Directly contributing to Government health targets (improved childhood immunisations and primary care access), our Kaupapa Māori, tāngata whaikaha-led, mixed-methods research programme will examine multi-level barriers to vaccination uptake and timeliness, developing an Equity Accessibility Index tool. We will undertake ethical co-designing of primary and community disability-responsive models of care that improve vaccine uptake and timeliness for tāngata whaikaha tamariki and whānau, applying implementation science to deliver and assess the effectiveness (including cost and equity impacts) and scalability of innovative solutions.