Fresh measles jabs on their way but Bay of Plenty doses still unknown

Fresh supplies of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccines have arrived in the country and distribution to GP practices will start. Sandra Conchie has talked to Bay of Plenty health officials about what the community can expect in terms of the distribution of the vaccine, and its availability. One Bay of Plenty health officials says the Auckland measles outbreak has "created pressure" across the health system.

More supplies of measles vaccine are expected to be available from today, but how much the Bay of Plenty and Lakes District will get is unknown, a senior health official says.

Phil Back, the Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation's general practice services manager, said the 52,000 new MMR doses which had arrived in the country, were being quality tested before released to areas where they were most needed.

Back said 26,000 MMR vaccines will be distributed to priority areas such as Auckland to try and stem the outbreak there and district health boards for release to GP clinics.

However, how much the Midland health region would receive particularly in the Bay of Plenty and Lakes District was yet unknown, he said.

The Ministry of Health and Pharmac carried out a national stocktake of the MMR on Monday after numerous reports of shortages.

Some Rotorua and Tauranga medical centres contacted still had limited doses and were "doing okay", others confirmed late last week they ran out more than a week ago.

Back said some of the new stocks of vaccines had been ringfenced for use in Auckland.

For the rest of the country, the Ministry of Health and Pharmac were working with distributors to prioritise new stock to practices which were low or had run out, Back said.

"Our focus in this area is to ensure those already scheduled to have their routine MMR at 15 months and 4 years old get immunised," he said.

Back said while some clinics in the Midland region had run out, where clinics could they were collaborating with each other to ensure those on the priority list did not miss out.

The remaining 26,000 vaccines would be retained by the national distributor for proportional distribution over the next four months through to January, he said.

Back said Pharmac was also looking into whether it could order more vaccines in the case the latest supplies ran out before January when the next stock was due to arrive.

As at September 18, there had been 1348 confirmed measles cases across New Zealand this year, including 1120 in the Auckland and 46 in Bay of Plenty and Lakes District.

Back said so far this year there were 32 confirmed cases in the Western Bay of Plenty, eight in Taupō and six in Rotorua.

NZME also emailed the principals at Mount Maunganui College and Katikati College about whether any of its students had been placed in quarantine after attending a recent Hamilton football tournament.

Neither principal responded to our request by deadline.

Dr Jim Miller, Toi Te Ora's medical officer of health says due to the Auckland outbreak vaccine availability in the Bay of Plenty will be limited in the coming weeks. Photo / File

Dr Jim Miller, Toi Te Ora Public Health's medical officer of health, said Toi Te Ora was not aware of any of confirmed measles cases being traced back to the Hamilton tournament.

"The current measles outbreak has created pressure across the health system, particularly in Auckland," Miller said.

"Over the past two weeks, the Ministry of Health has been working to manage distribution to ensure that MMR vaccine is available to meet priorities based around ensuring all children receive their vaccinations on time at 15 months and 4 years to maintain the national Childhood Immunisation Schedule.

"MMR availability in the Bay of Plenty will be limited over the coming few weeks, and therefore we will have to more strictly focus on the childhood immunisation programme and on vaccination to support the management of cases and contacts," he said.

Kirsten Stone, chief executive of Rotorua Area Primary Health Services, was also contacted for comment but was busy in meetings for the rest of the week.

AIMS Games tournament director Vicki Semple said they have "robust" systems in place and good communication channels with all the schools involved in the tournament.

"We absolutely have had no reports of cases of measles from those who attended the tournament," she said.