Jacquie Westren admits her passion for her job makes her a boring dinner guest.
Now when she arrives at a dinner party ... "it's `here's your drink, sit down, shut up and don't talk about MeNZB,'" the Northland Health meningococcal B vaccination project manager jokes.
Her passion for the project came from seeing the effects of the disease as an intensive care nurse.
"I've seen the disease, I've been in the intensive care unit and I've seen children who were well the day before (they got the disease) on life support.
"It's a very dramatic disease and the outcome can be so devastating, children die, others are terribly hurt afterwards."
Planning for the campaign has been intensive, with around 11,000 Northland pre-schoolers aged from six months to five years scheduled to receive three meningococcal B vaccinations through GP practices between November 22 and the end of May next year.
They will be followed by around 30,000 schoolchildren who will be vaccinated in schools from the start of the second term in May through to October.
Enormous work had gone into getting information to parents, Ms Westren said.
Twelve thousand letters asking parents and caregivers to make appointments for their under-fives have been sent out over the past week.
"Northland Health has distributed about 12,000 pre-folded pamphlets and fridge magnets to GP practices and I have ordered another 2000 pamphlets to satisfy demand," she said. "There is a high level of awareness about the disease in Northland and a lot of people are hungry for information."
Northland Health, GP practices, nurses, Primary Health Organisations, iwi health providers, community groups, volunteers, school boards and teachers had all been working together in an effort to reach as many young Northlanders as possible.
"I'm a real supporter of people making the choice about whether or not to have their child vaccinated but sometimes the choices people make are based on poor information," Ms Westren said.
Northland Health's role was to ensure that people were given as much information about the disease as possible so that every family in the region could make an informed decision about the vaccination.
If parents did decided to get their child vaccinated, then Northland Health would ensure there were no barriers, such as lack of transport, in front of them.
Northland Health's manager `passionate' about work
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