LOW RATES

Deciding not to immunise your baby is a choice that affects not only your child, but also their grandparents, their future children and the whole community, the NDHB says. Dr Juliet Rumball-Smith and Dr Tim Kenealy have authored a study published in the New Zealand Medical Journal that reviews the data for babies born in Northland 2009 – 2013. The study explores the region’s low immunisation rates, and particularly those children who are refused vaccination as young babies. ‘‘We have a high proportion of parents and caregivers who actively refuse immunisation for their babies – the rate of immunisation ‘decline’ in Northland is more than twice the national average,’’ Dr Rumball-Smith says.