PhD Thesis - ResearchSpace@Auckland - The University of Auckland

To identify attitudes to immunisation in preparation for the launch of the measles,
mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) from 1990 to 1991, the Health Department
commissioned a report from the National Research Bureau who interviewed 800
caregivers with children under two. 121 The report classified parents into four main
groups: the first were the ‘questioning acceptors’ who were likely to be European,
well-educated and from the higher end of the socio-economic and socio-occupational
end of the spectrum. They were characterised as accepting immunisation for their
children but wanting plenty of information before making an informed decision. The
second group, the ‘lapsed by-passers’, tended to be from the lower end of the
spectrum and typified as a ‘Pacific Island or Maori caregiver’. 122 They accepted
immunisation was ‘necessary or desirable’ but there were often difficulties in
achieving this, coupled with ‘no particular sense of urgency to get their children
immunised’. 123 The third group consisted of the ‘acceptors’ who accepted
immunisation without question and tended to be from the lower end of the socio-
economic spectrum. The final group was the ‘rejecting questioners’ usually
European, well educated and at the higher end of the scale. These parents believed
immunisation was unnecessary and rejected the ‘authority of health professionals’. 124
Certainly by the late 1980s this seemed a fair representation of parental views on
immunisation in New Zealand, although it must be pointed out that the lines were not
hard and fast and that there were some people, Maori, Pacific Island and Europeans,
who fell into other categories, determined by their education and socio-economic
status. One Pacific Island mother of three was well-educated and had had her children
immunised but would be classed as a ‘questioning acceptor’ as she had made it her
business to find out more about the subject. 125
The study revealed that 92 percent of parents were in favour of immunisation,
believing either that it was necessary (68 percent) or desirable (24 percent). 126
Notwithstanding, one doctor identified another group of parents, not just Pacific
121
National Research Bureau, ‘Attitudes to Immunisation’, prepared for the Health Department,
January 1990, ABQU 632 W4452/918 144/56, ANZ, Wellington. As MMR was introduced after 1990
it falls outside the scope of this thesis.
122
ibid, p.7.
123
ibid.
124
ibid.
125
Interview with L. Aumua, 31 July 2002, parent 1980s and 1990s.
126
National Research Bureau, ‘Attitudes to Immunisation’, prepared for the Health Department,
January 1990, p.9, ABQU 632 W4452/918 144/56, ANZ, Wellington.
291