PhD Thesis - ResearchSpace@Auckland - The University of Auckland

CHAPTER 6: Re-inventing Disease Perception:
immunisation and public health policy 1962-1972
The success of both the Salk and Sabin vaccines in controlling polio meant that the
last of the ‘killer’ diseases was now preventable by immunisation. Subsequently, the
scientific community focused its attention on developing vaccines for diseases
considered to be ‘mild’ illnesses of childhood, such as measles. Although measles
could, given the right conditions, be a killer, it did not evoke the same fear in parents
as diseases such as diphtheria and polio. The Health Department now had to place
more emphasis on methods of persuasion to induce people to immunise their children
against the less dangerous illnesses. The development of the rubella vaccine in
particular signalled a significant change in the role of immunisation. This vaccine
was not just used to prevent the disease; it also gained a new role as a community
health measure, because the most devastating effect of rubella was to the unborn
foetus. This decade therefore witnessed a gradual shift in attitude towards these
‘milder diseases’ as the Health Department began to publicise their more serious side-
effects to convince parents it was worth having their children protected. There was
also increasing departmental concern over immunisation levels for both European and
Maori and the reasons for this anxiety will be explored.
1960s New Zealand
Health policy, including immunisation, was influenced by changes in attitude within
New Zealand society and the 1960s were no exception. This decade signalled the
beginning of changes to New Zealand society that would bring the rest of the world
much closer. Television transmission commenced nationally in 1961 and brought the
world into a growing number of New Zealand homes. 1 Jet travel also became a more
affordable way to see the world with regular services established between Britain and
New Zealand in 1963. 2 An important consequence of these developments was an
increasing exposure to ideas and information from other societies, through both
programmes on the television and by visits to other countries. The Health Department,
realising the potential of television to reach a large number of parents, began to use it
1 M. King, The Penguin History of New Zealand, Auckland, 2003, p.452.
2 ibid., pp.456-57.
167