Whānau Āwhina Plunket is now offering measles vaccinations to the families of babies who are too young to receive it themselves.
Chief nurse Zoë Tipa said 20 sites were already up and running, as part of its pilot immunisation programme funded by Health NZ, with another four set to be operational by the end of November.
“There is community transmission of measles, so that’s not great, and we know this is an anxious time for a lot of families, especially those with babies under one who are too young to be immunised against measles,” she said.
“That’s why it’s so important that everyone around them is protected.
“We now offer the MMR [measles, mumps and rubella] vaccine to the whole whānau at those sites, so not just the under fives but anyone can go in and get immunised as well.
Plunket’s million-dollar immunisation programme, which launched in December, got off to a slow start, with fewer than 100 babies vaccinated in its first five months.
Tipa said the WellChild provider had just passed a milestone of 3000 vaccinations delivered since it started, with 37 Plunket nurses trained as vaccinators, 17 doing supervised practice and another 44 having just begun their training.
Under the National Childhood Immunisation Schedule, the MMR vaccine is given at 12 and 15 months, however, it is babies under one who are most at risk of serious illness and complications if they are infected.
The vaccine could be given under prescription to babies as young as four months if they were travelling overseas to countries with measles outbreaks, or if they have been exposed to the virus, or there is a big enough outbreak where they live.
Surge in calls from worried parents
While hundreds of people have now been identified as close contacts in Wellington, Health NZ has said the level of community transmission was not yet at the level at which babies under one should be vaccinated.
Parents of young babies said GPs were turning down their attempts to get their babies vaccinated early on the advice of public health officials.
Lower Hutt mother Jessie Day booked in her five-month-old son early for his MMR at her GP clinic, after being told it could be done for $260.
“The clinic called me back to say it’s not possible to buy a privately funded shot, which was news to them too.
“So we’re back to a Covid-style babyhood with Dexter. No indoor gatherings.”
Tipa said it was “a little bit of wait and see” whether public health authorities would lower the age to get babies immunised.
“But even if babies under 12 months do get vaccinated, they will still need those two vaccinations at 12 months and 15 months as well.”
Plunket nurses reported a surge in parents “understandably worried” about the measles outbreak, especially those whose babies were too young to be immunised.
“But what’s really positive is we have noticed more whānau reaching out to check what they can do to keep baby safe, so that’s a good thing to come out of this.”
As well as making sure everyone around the baby was up to date with their MMR vaccination, it was important to keep young babies away from anyone who was unwell, she said.
rnz.co.nz
