PhD Thesis - ResearchSpace@Auckland - The University of Auckland

The attitude of most parents to the rubella vaccine was positive as demonstrated by
the number who signed the consent form. During the immunisation campaign the
Department conducted a survey of 845 parents on their reasons for allowing their
children to receive the vaccine or not. Of those who dissented (412) it was
ascertained that 304 of these children had already had rubella, 42 could not be given it
on medical grounds and 19 had already had the vaccine or were to receive it at the
doctor’s. 98 Few parents dissented because they objected to the vaccine. Of those who
gave their permission, the majority consented for a combination of three major
reasons, to prevent deformities in babies (357), to assist the community (333) and to
help their own child (315). Certainly the promotional campaign organised by the
Department and its districts had played a major role in informing parents about the
vaccine. This was complemented by the convenience for parents of a school-based
campaign, which the survey revealed as the fourth most popular feature. 99 Yet again
it had been clearly demonstrated that doctor-based campaigns did not facilitate
immunisation. 100
Doctors and Schedules
By 1968 the New Zealand immunisation schedule for babies included three doses of
triple vaccine or DTP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis) to be given at three months,
four months and five months respectively along with a dose of oral polio vaccine
(OPV). From 1964 a further booster of double vaccine or DT (diphtheria and tetanus)
was administered at 18 months along with OPV and then another at school entry. 101
It was this additional double vaccine shot at 18 months that caused some stirrings in
medical circles, so much so that Dr Stephen Hickling of the Department of
Preventative and Social Medicine at the University of Otago published an article in
the New Zealand Medical Journal questioning the usefulness of this particular
booster. 102 He argued that ‘the evidence is clearly in favour of omitting any
98
T. H. Bierre, ‘Immunisation of School Children with Rubella Vaccine’, p.10.
99
ibid.
100
ibid.
101
Health, 20, 1, 1968, p.9. See Appendix 1, pp.306-09 for immunisation schedules.
102
S. Hickling, ‘Immunisation Against Diphtheria, Tetanus and Whooping Cough in Childhood’,
NZMJ, 65, 1966, pp.357-62. See also H1 29/19 33136 Epidemiology Advisory Committee 1962-68,
ANZ, Wellington.
184