Immunisation rates trigger race against winter deadline
Waikato immunisation teams warn of a swarm of sick children could be lining up for medical help come winter if lagging immunisation rates aren’t managed.
Every Saturday outreach staff like Meri Ormsby, a senior nurse for Waikato health provider Te Kohao Health, is out in the community where there is a “huge need” for childhood immunisations.
It comes as healthcare workers are coming head to head with the lowest immunisation rates for children in over a decade based on the latest national data which without the extra effort could trigger “a huge number of unwell children during the winter”.
“We go out of our way to vaccinate our children because the numbers are so low and of course we know that immunisation helps eliminate or minimise disease,” Ormsby said.
The failing immunisation rates meant the risk of an outbreak of diseases like measles, diphtheria, tetanus and rotavirus were more concerning. It’s a reality that Ormsby said was partially linked to the shift in focus towards covid vaccinations during the height of the pandemic.
“That’s when the numbers went low,” Ormsby said.
“That’s our primary objective on the weekends is to target our childhood immunisations, a lot of our children are behind so a lot of those are catch-up immunisations.”
But despite their best efforts, a new strain of adversity in the form of post pandemic “watercooler” talk surrounding vaccinations has been the impetus for more than just delivering the services but making sure people are well-informed.
It’s about the right people going out to the homes and the families trusting us, Ormsby said.
“A lot of our families are so sick of being injected and are quite confused about covid and childhood vaccinations.
“There are a lot of our families that don’t want the vaccination but a lot of the time it’s about trust, once you build a relationship with families.”
The Government was pitching in with a $50 million funding package spread across two years towards Whānau Ora and partnering organisations to boost vaccination rates. The sooner children are immunised the greater their chances are of sustaining a healthy immunity, managing director at Te Kohao Health, Lady Tureiti Moxon said. It was about how staff reach into the neighbourhoods that need it most because once the virus was contracted there was “not a lot you can do about it after the event”.
“The children end up having to go through all the pain and suffering and the health system where sometimes it’s so bad that [children] end up in hospital.“
“We’ve had measles come back, we’ve had mumps come back, we’ve had chicken pox and all of these different childhood diseases...a number of children died of measles in Samoa, we don’t want that to happen here.”
“We can go out of our way to vaccinate our children because the numbers are so low.”
Senior nurse Meri Ormsby