PhD Thesis - ResearchSpace@Auckland - The University of Auckland

esearch carried out by F. T. Shannon, a professor in paediatrics at the Christchurch
Clinical School of Medicine, who considered immunisation in the first year. This
study concluded that ‘Failure to provide the child with the recommended course of
immunisation was most common amongst families of non-European ethnic origin,
single parent families and families with depressed living standards’. 137 Nonetheless, it
should be noted that a similar study carried out in Dunedin that focused on
immunisation of five-year-olds, ‘did not show a significant relationship between the
parental characteristics studied and immunisation status’. 138 It was concluded that
‘this may have been a reflection of the different SES [socio-economic status] and
racial composition of the Dunedin sample, or the ages of the children’. 139
A British study, which looked at the uptake of infant immunisation based on two
English Health Authorities, Salford and Lancaster, came to conclusions similar to the
Christchurch study. 140 A country with triple vaccine rates akin to New Zealand,
Britain had levels of 75 percent for the triple and polio at the end of 1988 (it was 87
percent for the double vaccine). The study found there were four significant factors
which influenced immunisation. A sick child usually precluded immunisation, an
increasing number of children meant younger ones were unlikely to be completely
immunised, mothers with only secondary schooling and those who were single
parents were more likely to have an unimmunised child. 141 Transport and
accessibility of clinics, particularly when more than one child had to be taken was
carefully considered by parents when deciding whether to complete an immunisation
appointment. 142 One aspect that was highlighted in the authors’ conclusion was that
‘most parents in this study had very strong views indeed about immunisation and
appeared to have received plenty of advice, both from professionals as well as from a
range of other sources, including friends, family and the media’. 143 Nevertheless, it
was not necessarily informed guidance that was given. An awareness and knowledge
137
F. T. Shannon, D. M. Fergusson, M. A. Clark, ‘Immunisation in the first year of life’, NZMJ, 12
March 1980, p.169.
138
P. A. Silva, S. M. Williams, A. C. Stewart, ‘Immunisations in the fifth year of life: a report from the
Dunedin Multidisciplinary Child Development Study’, NZMJ, 25 March 1981, p.181.
139
ibid.
140
S. J. New, M. L. Senior, ‘“I don’t believe in needles”: qualitative aspects of a study into the uptake
of infant immunisation in two English Health Authorities’, Social Science and Medicine, 33, 4, 1991.
141
ibid., pp.511-12.
142 ibid., p.515.
143 ibid., p.516.
294