By Alexa Cook of RNZ
Rural nurses are on a mission to try to lift measles vaccination rates in hard-to-reach areas, as health experts expect the outbreak to grow.
There are currently 11 known measles cases throughout the country, and the number of close contacts is about 2000.
Central Hawke’s Bay registered nurse Michelle Reinhardt works for Te Ara Waiora in Waipukurau, a free nurse-led kaupapa Māori hauora clinic.
She told RNZ the current outbreak was concerning, and they were trying hard to lift vaccine rates.
“There is hesitancy still, but it’s just about getting the word out there to people and it slowly starts to grow.
“Just make sure you’re vaccinated – it’s really important,” she said.
Vaccine mistrust
Only 72% of Māori under 5 years old are vaccinated, compared with 82% across the general population.
Reinhardt and her nursing colleagues drive all over the rural district providing mobile vaccination clinics and even house visits for people who can’t travel or don’t have a car.
“It’s something we are trying really hard to educate people on, to let people make educated decisions on being vaccinated.
“It’s important to talk to your health professionals ... and make that decision for yourself so that information is all correct and not based on hearsay, or what we see on social media,” she said.
Reinhardt was working as a paediatric nurse during the previous measles outbreak in 2019.
“That last wave of measles was scary and I did see parents saying they wish they’d known earlier ... that they were susceptible ... and they wish they’d done something about it earlier,” she said.
Māori GP Doctor Nina Bevin said she was worried about the low vaccination rates.
Bevin said despite years of hard mahi from the health sector, there was still some mistrust in pockets of communities.
“I’m really concerned about the current measles outbreak because it’s coming at a time when we’ve got our lowest coverage of immunisation for our tamariki.
“It means we are very vulnerable to a large outbreak,” she said.
Bevin is encouraging people to not only get immunised, but also consider a “top-up” measles vaccination, because public health records “haven’t always been perfect”.
“The measles vaccine is highly safe and it’s highly effective. If you’re not sure of your vaccination status, check the Te Whatu Ora website, call your GP and check in.
“Sometimes the best thing is to go and get the top-up because it’s really safe to have three or four doses of MMR, it won’t cause any harmful effects,” she said.
Thousands of vulnerable children
Measles is so infectious, it requires an immunity rate of at least 95% in the community to prevent spread. This is driving concerns about its spread, because of New Zealand’s lower vaccination rate.
Epidemiologist Michael Baker said he was worried because measles transmission was occurring and some cases weren’t linked to overseas visits, and this situation was combined with low immunisation rates.
“Those two situations in combination means we are looking at the beginning of a measles epidemic unless we act very rapidly.”
He said there were tens of thousands of children who were vulnerable to the highly infectious virus.
It comes as parents and caregivers of Wellington high school students are worried by the current outbreak, with thousands of close contacts identified and students in isolation.
One case is linked to overseas travel, and seven are linked to a Bluebridge ferry crossing on October 3.
There are four cases in Wellington, one in Northland, two in Auckland, one in Taranaki, two in Manawatū and one in Nelson.
Wellington’s locations of interest include Metlink bus 736 journeys on the mornings of October 13 and 15, VTNZ Thorndon on those same afternoons, and a Thai restaurant in Karori on the evening of Wednesday, October 15.
Incoming Wellington Mayor Andrew Little is urging residents to take “basic precautions” against measles, with hundreds of people already exposed to the virus.
Little, a former Health Minister, said mask-wearing could help stop transmission of the virus, which is spread by droplets from coughing and sneezing, and can linger in the air for up to two hours.
“People have to be really careful,” he said. “People in big public spaces or on buses: wear masks. This is contagious.”
New Zealand’s low immunisation rates had been “an issue” for the health system and successive governments for some time, he said.
“And that effort is going to be needed for some time to get a new generation vaccinated.
“But meanwhile, the contagion is out there and people just need to take those basic precautions.”
– RNZ