Low immunisation rate triggers measles outbreak

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Low immunisation rate triggers measles outbreak

3News NZ

Notified measles cases so far this year are already seven times higher than the total number of measles cases last year.

The reason? The third-lowest immunisation rate in the OECD, despite the fact immunisation is free and widely and readily available. Our immunisation rate is about 83 percent - to be effective it needs to be 95 percent.

And now the Ministry of Health has had a gutsful. They are warning that children who have not been immunised risk being sent home from school.

Campbell Live speaks with Dr Pat Tuohy, Ministry of Health adviser.

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8/06/2011 7:34:18 a.m.

Rose wrote:

I cant help but feel my head boil over with anger when i hear about this. Has anyone cared to look into the history of these vaccines? Or what is in them ? the mercury might have been taken out of them.. But they were replaced with much much more toxic ingrediants for the human body, one being animal fluid. I cant help but look around at vaccinated children and see they have a CONSTANT runny nose, Reoccurring ear infections etc. Then i look at my healthy daughter who is 100% vacc free, and has never needed anti biotics. Shes never had a trip to the hospital. and she never has issues with her ears. Im tired of hearing about the MMR not causing autism.. Do you REALLY think the drug companys are going to admit they screwed up ?? NO WAY! They are getting a damn fortune from our government to provide us with these free vaccines. Instead mothers are made to feel like their stupid and didnt know their OWN child afterall. I just hope one day the truth about vaccines will come out, because i am getting tired of being rediculed and called a bad parent because i did a hell of a lot of research in vaccines, and dont want my child to be injected with a toxic cocktail of absolute crap. Are people really forgetting humans were blessed with a great immune system ??? To inject a tiny baby with all this crap is obsurd.. Anyone else notice the rate on SIDS has risen since these vaccines have come into place???? Im anti vaccine, and i look at my daughter and im glad. This is something i will never regret.

24/08/2009 11:07:14 p.m.

Matt wrote:

My goodness, how many times does the Autism link have to be dispelled before people stop banging on about it. A large number of studies in various countries have proven time and time again that there is no link between autism and vaccines and only one study shows a link. The same study authored by someone under misconduct charges for not disclosing the subjects of the study were supplied by lawyers with an interest in getting the MMR vaccine discredited. The US even went to the length of removing the supposedly harmful thimerosal component. Nine years later and autism rates haven't changed. So many parents with good intentions think 30 minutes on google can educate them enough to make an informed decision. Unfortunately the anti-vac clowns have prettier web sites and usually try not to use big words.

24/08/2009 10:02:24 a.m.

Rebekah wrote:

Mike Yes we are 14th in the world for MCV, along with Bolivia, Ghana, Suriname, Tajukistan and the United Kindom (all have 86% coverage) just look at the link provided in my last post. And yes in 1997 there was a measles epidemic in New Zeland, there were 2'041 reported cases and 99% immunization rate, the epidemic was predicted therefore the high immunization rates after a large control system was put in place. The rate had been low the years leading up to the epidemic and it had not been above 92% for 17 years. Yet in 1994 towards the end of that long stretch there was a rate of 87% immunized and only 33 cases.

22/08/2009 12:52:55 a.m.

Enkidu wrote:

Wow, so much misinformation in this comments thread, it's making my head spin.

Vaccinations aren't 100% effective... but they're pretty darn close. Still, it's possible to get the MMR shot and still contract the measles. This is why vaccination rates need to be 95% or better to provide herd immunity.

And to those people touting natural exposure to measles... you are afraid of a 1:1,000,000 adverse reaction rate for the vaccine, but NOT the 1:1,000 rate for the natural virus. Why is this? Not to mention the fact that you can pass on the virus to others. The stupidity in this just baffles me.

22/08/2009 12:08:12 a.m.

Mike wrote:

Rebekah said - "In 1997 we had a measles vaccination rate of 99% yet that year there were 2'041 reported cases of measles." The reason the rate was 99% was because it was measured after the measles epidemic. The years previous to the outbreak the figure were in the mid eighties. As soon as the number of measles cases went up so did the number of scared parents immunizing their kids. I would suggest that it was the 99% rate that stopped the epidemic. It's a shame that people forget so quickly and allowed the rate to slip down again. To say that NZ is ranked 14th in the world is wrong when there are 125 countries that have higher vaccination rates. Just subtracting 86% from 100% does not rank us 14th best. If there were, for example, 50 countries on 99%, the one on 98% can not claim "Yeah! We're ranked second in the world."

21/08/2009 11:16:48 p.m.

Diaz wrote:

Campbell Live need look no further than the comments here to see why NZ has such a problem. One of the main things is vaccines have been so successful, so for most people the thought of contracting one disease or another is more a theoretical concept rather than reality (not for much longer from the look of it). If you want to see the effect of modern health care just go back about 100 or so years and look at what children died of in their droves then, and you can't complain as they had no options other than a 100% organic diet. The fact is that while vaccines are not 100% effective or 100% safe they are not the monsterous things they are made out to be, nor is my GP and practice nurse out to hurt my family as allegedly they are ignoring these claimed bad effects from vaccines. This measles epidemic is just the tip of the iceberg, there is a huge problem with misinformed people spreading their misinformed ideas out there.

21/08/2009 8:09:28 p.m.

alison wrote:

In response to Phil, Karen (& others):
1. children are exposed to far more antigens every single day of their lives than the small number provided in the sum of childhood vaccinations.
2. there is no science-based evidence of any causal link between autism & childhood vaccinations.
3. nor is there an 'autism epidemic' - there have, however, been documented changes to do with diagnosis.
4. herd immunity protects those who cannot be vaccinated (regardless of how their parents may feel on the issue) because they are immuno-compromised, or because they are too young.
5. infection with the measles virus causes severe adverse reactions (including brain damage, & death) in 1 in 1,000. The rate of severe adverse reactions associated with measles vaccination is 1 in 1,000,000.
6. in a recently-documented measles outbreak in the US, the rate of infection in non-vaccinated children was 23 times greater than in the vaccinated population. (Yes, vaccines don't always 'take'; this is not a reason for discontinuing their use.)

21/08/2009 1:03:17 p.m.

Rebekah wrote:

You might be interested to know that NZ actually has a measles vaccination rate of 86%, we are 14th on the list. In 1997 we had a measles vaccination rate of 99% yet that year there were 2'041 reported cases of measles. In 2002 we had a vaccination level of 84% and a measles case rate of 21 Somehow I don't belive vaccination levels have anything to do with it. http://www.globalhealthfacts.org/topic.jsp?i=42

20/08/2009 8:09:54 p.m.

Penny wrote:

Those parents that have stood staunch and chosen not to vaccinate their children are now bringing toddlers/children in to our practice for the MMR vaccine. Where have their theories on not vaccinating gone to!!

20/08/2009 10:35:44 a.m.

Melody wrote:

It is amazing how clever the pharmaceutical companies are at making money out of the consumer. I vaccinated my first 2 children out of ignorance but my 3rd child is unvaccinated. All my children have good health.I did not put my children through the farce of the meningitis vaccines (3 in total) or the vaccine for cervical cancer done this year on girls. Our children are but guinea pigs for some of these large drug companies and the results for some children and adults are horrific. Maybe our stats for immunisation are lower than other countries because we are more educated NOT less. If some child gets measles then it is discrimination for unvaccinated children to have to take time off school as it is also the vaccinated child that can get it. Will the compulsory stand down also apply to non vaccinated adults in their workplace? Another question; who pays for the lost income of the parent who has to stay home with their perfectly healthy child and what happens if they have several children of different ages and they are all sent out of school at diffent times???? As a responsible parent I have no problem being home with a sick child but to be home when they are healthy and want to be at school to learn is just craziness.