Meningococcal vaccine figures released

Meningococcal vaccinators are welcoming figures which they believe show the success of the nationwide immunisation programme.

New figures released by the Ministry of Health show that of the 960,000 children and teenagers who had the first shot, 600,000 had gone on and had all three recommended shots.

Vaccinators are targeting a 90 per cent immunisation of all those aged from six weeks to 19 years, with the figures showing more than 81 per cent have started the programme.

Immunisation programme director Dr Jane O'Hallahan said despite the active lobbying by anti-immunisation groups earlier in the year parents had cut through the misinformation and realised the importance of vaccinating against the meningococcal disease.

"The figures are an exceptionally good result and it shows how New Zealand health professionals and parents have wanted an answer to this," she said.

Earlier predictions of a significant drop off in numbers completing all three doses proved ill-founded, she said.

However Dr O'Hallahan said parents needed to realise the vaccine offered only individual protection and all children in families needed to be vaccinated in order to protect them from the disease.

The average number of meningococcal cases per year for the last five years is 364. There have been ten deaths and 183 cases of meningococcal disease so far this year, although not all are due to the B strain the vaccine is designed to protect against.

- NZPA