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’’.

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.’’

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