Infant vaccinations falling

As New Zealand waits for a Covid-19 vaccine, national childhood vaccination rates continue to lag below target.

The Ministry of Health target is for 95 per cent of 8-month-olds to have their primary course of immunisations – at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 5 months – on time. Not only is this target not being met but the highest number of district health boards to reach the target in any one quarter over the past three years was four – one-fifth of all DHBs nationwide.

In the fourth quarter of 2019/20, 90.7 per cent of 8-month-olds received all immunisations on time nationally. This was down on the two previous quarters.

Although vaccine rates remain relatively high as a whole, vaccination rates for 8-month-olds have been decreasing steadily since 2016.

In 2020, only one DHB met the target in the first quarter, four in the second quarter, and three DHBs in each of the third and fourth quarters.

That was with the Ministry of Health rounding percentages to the nearest whole number. Some DHBs got 94.5 per cent coverage but were recorded as meeting the target.

Immunisation rates vary widely across the country.

Only South Canterbury DHB surpassed the 95 per cent target in quarter four of 2019/20, with 96.2 per cent of 8-month-olds vaccinated on time.

Taira¯ whiti DHB in Gisborne had the country’s lowest rates of immunisation at 8 months, with 78.8 per cent receiving all shots on time last quarter.

Rotorua’s Lakes DHB had the second lowest rate, with 80.1 per cent of infants covered.

Associate Professor Nikki Turner, director of the Immunisation Advisory Centre, said that while New Zealand was not meeting the 95 per cent target, the country was ‘‘doing well’’ on a whole compared with other nations.

However, ‘‘we can’t afford to slip’’.

Immunisation Advisory Centre

Turner said plans to improve childhood immunisation rates were a ‘‘priority we can’t afford to lose sight of’’ in the face of a Covid-19 vaccine roll-out.

Turner said geographic equity gaps reflected in the data were well-known issues and she ‘‘strongly’’ felt there needed to be more resources to tackle these.

For some, a lack of confidence in health services led to people delaying or declining vaccinations or doctors’ visits to get jabs – which was not the same as being anti-vax, she said. Those in poverty or who moved around a lot also often did not have engaged relationships with primary providers and could miss out on getting vaccines on time.

Turner said it was particularly challenging for some communities to reach healthcare services and similarly hard for some ‘‘stretched’’ outreach services to get to them. ‘‘There is a lot of need, and we do need extra support and enhancement,’’ she said.

There had also been a drop-off in getting vaccinations on time over lockdown last year, which was ‘‘no surprise’’, but vaccine experts were ‘‘disappointed’’ they had not yet picked back up, she said.

‘‘We are doing well ... [but] want to do better.’’

Beachgoers are being urged to report any sighting of a toxic weed this summer. The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) said sea spurge – a small shrub with tightly packed bluegreen leaves – had been sighted along the coastline. ‘‘Having a day at the beach is quintessential to a New Zealand summer, if sea spurge became wellestablished it could jeopardise that,’’ MPI director of readiness and responses John Walsh said. The plant invades the shore just above the high tide mark, disrupts sand dunes and stops native plants from being able to grow. MPI is urging people not to remove the invasive weed because its sap can cause skin irritation or temporary blindness if it gets in the eyes. ‘‘We are asking everyone to look out for and report if they see what they think might be sea spurge. We can all work together to keep our beaches beautiful,’’ Walsh said.

‘‘There is a lot of need, and we do need extra support and enhancement.’’ Professor Nikki Turner

The tail of a dead whale has sparked a warning for water users in Nelson Harbour and a difficult disposal job for conservation staff. The large tail section was seen floating yesterday morning. It is believed to be from a dead whale seen more than a week ago off Nelson’s Boulder Bank. On January 7, sharks were seen feeding off that carcass. Department of Conservation communications adviser Trish Grant said it could be the remains of the dead whale that was reported last Thursday, ‘‘but we can’t say for certain’’. She said the whale fluke was ‘‘well decomposed’’ and ‘‘because the extent of decomposition, we can’t determine what species it is’’. ‘‘Our rangers are towing it away but we are still determining where we will take it. It’s too big and its condition too poor to lift it out of the water. We don’t know where the rest of the remains are.’’ Grant said the tail was being tethered to decompose naturally in the tidal zone of the outer Boulder Bank.