Low vaccination rates

Danny Hamer proudly says his age is five - and a half! He's also one of 77 percent of New Zealand kids who has been vaccinated in accordance with the National Immunisation Schedule (see below).

Danny's mother Karen says he needed a long nap after his first measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab but he's never had a serious reaction: "There's a lot of fear involved with child rearing. It's easy to see the hurt a needle gives, but hard to see the benefits when the disease isn't visible in the community."

Jacqui Richards has a different view of vaccines - one that's shared by between 3 and 6 percent of New Zealand parents:

"I read a variety of books before deciding not to vaccinate my kids. There were many reasons: too many vaccines in one injection, the programme starting too early (six weeks), a strong belief in the ability of a healthy immune system to fend off most illnesses, poverty being a large factor in spread of disease, a lack of trust of the information provided by the pharmaceutical industry and so it can go on."

Barriers to immunisation

It's not clear why the remaining 17 to 20 percent of parents don't immunise their kids. Low vaccination rates are linked to poverty levels, and Maori children are less likely to be fully immunised compared with other ethnic groups.

The Ministry of Health's chief adviser for child and youth health Dr Pat Tuohy says: "We are aware that some barriers [to immunisation] remain, even though immunisation is free ... one example is if both parents are working. We know it can be difficult to get children immunised because the parents' only free time to do so is after hours or on Saturday mornings."

Some health professionals think there are more pervasive problems. Paediatrician Diana Lennon - an expert in infectious diseases and population paediatrics - says poor immunisation rates are one example of our disorganised health system.

She says: "We don't have a decent primary care system; we don't have a decent system of vaccine delivery; and we don't really know what populations we're delivering to - it's getting better - but we're really not putting enough effort into it."

The National Immunisation Schedule

The National Immunisation Schedule is:

6 weeks:

• One shot that offers protection against Diphtheria/Tetanus/Whooping cough/Polio/Hepatitis B/Haemophilus influenzae type b
• One shot against Pneumococcal.

3 months:

• One shot that offers protection against Diphtheria/Tetanus/Whooping cough/Polio/Hepatitis B/Haemophilus influenzae type b
• One shot against Pneumococcal.

5 months:

• One shot that offers protection against Diphtheria/Tetanus/Whooping cough/Polio/Hepatitis B/Haemophilus influenzae type b
• One shot against Pneumococcal.

15 months:

• One shot that offers protection against Haemophilus influenzae type b
• One shot against Measles/ Mumps/Rubella
• One shot against Pneumococcal.

4 years:

• One shot that offers protection against Diphtheria/Tetanus/Whooping cough/Polio
• One shot against Measles/Mumps/Rubella.

11 years:

• One shot that offers protection against Diphtheria/Tetanus/Whooping cough

12 years:

• Three shots for girls only to prevent human papillomavirus.