There are fears steep declines in childhood vaccination could result in another preventable viral outbreak, similar to the measles epidemic of 2019.
700 people were hospitalised in Aotearoa and 70 died in Samoa after the Measles virus was exported to the country from NZ; now GPs are warning vaccination rates have halved from levels they previously described as dire.
Māori vaccination rates for the MMR vaccine have fallen from about 70 percent to 45 percent over the past 3 years, with a similar drop in Pasifika vaccination rates according to Auckland University paediatric researcher Dr Anna Howe.
Howe says while lockdowns are partly to blame, the drop began before the spread of Covid-19.
‘We've gone from sort of having relatively good coverage to starting to drop off and then now we sort of have this pandemic hangover’ she told RNZ.
Howe says the numbers are alarming because the likelihood of viruses like Measles entering the country now that border restrictions have been removed, are significant.
“Low coverage for childhood immunisations isn't New Zealand specific," Dr Howe said.
“That means that there's going to be likely a high volume of measles circulating and it coming through the border potentially."
Low vaccination rates are a concern for GPs particularly in South Auckland, the epicentre of the last measles outbreak, but Teresa Olsen head of Hutt Valley Māori health provider Kōkiri Health says the issues are present across the motu.
Kōkiri is pivoting its pop-up Covid vaccine clinics to offer flu and other childhood vaccines with some success and that the organisation is engaging with whānau they have pre-existing relationships with, but cautioned it will be harder to communicate with some groups due to the amount of vaccination messaging in media at present.
"Our whānau are in information overload and are just switching off as well because it's all too much. Then that makes it even more difficult when we're trying to address all the issues around childhood immunisation as well." she said.
Olsen says poverty and accessibility is also partly responsible for the drop in numbers of children vaccinated nationally, which have fallen from nearly 80 percent in 2017, to just 65 percent today.
"A whole lot of them are living in circumstances which are not great, so they have other priorities," Olsen said.
"Their priorities are not getting their children vaccinated. Their priorities are making sure that their whānau are fed. Because for a whole lot of them it's just hard living day-to-day."
Howe said the protection offered by the vaccines was crucial to prevent a 2019 repeat coming at a time where hospitals were already overwhelmed with Covid patients.
"We're absolutely terrified that it's going to happen again” Howe said.
