20 per cent drop off for vaccine not a worry

The fact that more than one in five preschoolers has not yet received their third dose of meningococcal vaccine is not a worry, the Health Ministry says.

Figures published this morning showed that in the Counties Manukau District Health Board area since the programme began almost a year ago, 36,945 preschoolers children have had one dose, 33,101 have had two doses and 28,428 children have had the three doses necessary to protect against the disease.

However, the Health Ministry says the figures are consistent with the staggered roll-out of the programme.

It stood to reason that more children would have received their first jab before they had the second jab before they had the final third jab.

Furthermore, many health boards have staggered the vaccinations to make the workload more manageable.

All three must be received within a year for the vaccine to be effective.

MeNZB programme director Jane O'Hallahan said 700 parents -- or a total of 1.3 per cent of children in the school based programme -- had reversed consents after children had had one dose.

However, others had changed their minds and given consent after initially refusing it.

Meanwhile, the Wairarapa is launching a publicity campaign to persuade hard-to-reach teenagers to get vaccinated.

Around 3000 local young people who have left school and are under 20 are dragging their heels when it comes to fronting up for the free vaccination offered to them and campaign organisers are planning to personally eyeball them on the street if necessary.

The "10-foot-tall and bullet-proof" attitude of teenagers is a hard one to beat," meningococcal B vaccination campaign manager Debi Lodge-Schnellenberg said.

The "captured audiences" of around 8000 school children, and those aged under five, had been easy to identify but the group of young people who've left school and were eligible for the vaccination were harder to track down.

"We knew this would be the case, but optimistically we thought they would front up at medical centres for their free vaccination," Mrs Lodge-Schnellenberg said.

"It's simply that invincible attitude we have to penetrate".

- NZPA, WAIRARAPA TIMES-AGE (MASTERTON)