Call for worker vaccinations
Twelve Samoan men working on the RSE scheme in Marlborough face returning home to a measles epidemic without vaccinations.
Thornhill pastoral care manager Julie Neal said she has been fighting for the company’s Recognised Seasonal Employer workers to be vaccinated, but it had proven a ‘‘political minefield’’.
Although locals were being vaccinated village by village in Samoa, Neal was concerned to send them home un-vaccinated in case they missed out altogether.
‘‘We’ve got to play safe – we immunise them here,’’ Neal said. ‘‘That’s my way of thinking, they should be done before they go home and I’ve got a short window now because it’s two weeks for that vaccination to be working.
‘‘The boys do want it, they understand how serious it is back in Samoa and it’s getting more serious every day.’’
Workers Lolagi Tala and Pine Eli are due to return home to Samoa on Christmas Eve, leaving them a narrow window to be immunised.
Tala, from the island of Upolu, said he was scared for the health of his family, and his own if he returned to Samoa un-vaccinated. He learned on
Tuesday that a cousin’s baby had died from the disease.
‘‘I am worried about going home, to look after my family and save the money to go and see the doctor,’’ he said.
Neal said Tala and Eli had been coming to Marlborough through the RSE scheme for five or six years, were good workers and deserved the support of the New Zealand health system.
‘‘We need them, these workers, we need them to come in, we need to keep them healthy, we need to keep them safe and we need to look after them.’’
Samoan RSE workers are not on the list for priority MMR vaccines, which included unvaccinated babies and children and susceptible close contacts within 72 hours of exposure. Also on the priority list were New Zealanders under the age of 50 travelling to Samoa, Tonga, Philippines and Fiji, who needed to be vaccinated at least two weeks before travel in order to be immune.
A Ministry of Health spokesperson said they were currently working with health boards and the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment to look at ways they could protect those involved in the RSE scheme.
The spokesperson said 330,000 doses of the MMR vaccine had been distributed this year compared to 150,000 last year.
A state of emergency was declared on Wednesday morning in Samoa, and the death toll reached 62 yesterday.
Marlborough Primary Health chief executive Beth Tester said it was their preference that RSE workers were vaccinated before leaving their own country.
‘‘We’ve been talking to the ministry now about this for the past two years and nothing’s changed,’’ Tester said.