Demand for measles jab ‘unreal’

Suspected measles patients at a Christchurch medical practice are being told to wait in their cars, before masked nurses escort them to an isolation room.

Nurse manager Leanne Drayton says the pressure on the practice is ‘‘absolutely unreal’’ after huge demand for MMR vaccinations during Canterbury’s measles outbreak.

As of yesterday, the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) said there were 25 confirmed cases. ‘‘It can now be assumed that measles is circulating widely in our community,’’ the CDHB said.

Where Drayton works, people suspected of having measles are being asked to wait in their car outside, then phone the practice.

A nurse wearing a mask will then take the patient to an isolation room if needed.

‘‘When your appointment screens are already fully booked and over booked with seeing other conditions and routine problems, then to add the extra pressure on top of that to vaccinate all these people that need vaccinating ... we bend over backwards to do it but the pressure is just absolutely unreal,’’ she said.

The call volume had increased by about 50 per cent since Thursday. She believed the CDHB should open vaccination hubs.

‘‘[The CDHB] can’t expect to put it all on to GP practices, they should be proactive into developing somewhere, a site for people to go to get their booster.’’

Phil Schroeder, of the Canterbury Primary Response Group, said hubs had not been ruled out but were unlikely.

Drop-in centres could be the ‘‘very worst thing’’ when they had a limited supply of vaccines and a limited workforce.

‘‘It may mean giving out vaccine to folk who really don’t need it right this minute, and it won’t help us contain it in the Canterbury district,’’ he said.

‘‘At this stage, it is felt the best place to be giving the vaccine is at a general practice, where all the patients and their immunisation statuses are known.’’

Canterbury medical officer of health Ramon Pink said additional supplies of MMR vaccine were being delivered, with 18,000 doses expected to be available in practices from tomorrow.

‘‘Given their higher risk, our focus over the short term is to provide MMR immunisations to those under 29 years who are not fully vaccinated. People between the ages of 29 and 50 can expect to get a measles vaccine . . . in a week or two,’’ Pink said.

Measles is a potentially lifethreatening disease.