PhD Thesis - ResearchSpace@Auckland - The University of Auckland

Zealand’s first true ‘mass’ immunisation campaign, as about 85 percent of the total
population received the oral vaccine.
Chapter Six demonstrates the shift in focus for immunisation from the perceived
‘killer’ diseases, such as diphtheria and polio, to the commoner childhood illnesses of
measles and rubella. To try and persuade parents to have their children immunised,
the Health Department began to publicise the more serious side-effects of these so-
called ‘mild’ illnesses. Campaigns were conducted elsewhere, such as in the United
States where, from 1963 to 1968, 20 million doses of measles vaccine were given
out. 53 The measles vaccine did not have such an auspicious start in New Zealand, due
to events in Britain, when serious side-effects from the vaccine in a few children
halted the British measles immunisation programme. As New Zealand was about to
use British vaccine the programme was put on hold. Resulting ambivalence by the
Health Department towards the vaccine meant it was now introduced through the
family doctor instead of a school campaign. Levels of acceptance were, therefore,
correspondingly low. This was also the period where the rising cost of visiting the
doctor for immunisation had begun to affect levels. By making immunisation free in
1972 it was hoped that more parents would consent to have their children immunised.
Chapter Seven considers the influences on Health Department immunisation policy,
especially that of the EAC and the WHO. The rubella vaccine strategy of immunising
preschoolers was questioned by some in the medical profession and the policy was
eventually changed to immunising 11-year-old girls. Internationally, there was no
clear-cut policy for rubella immunisation, Britain immunised 11-year-old girls, whilst
the United States continued to immunise preschoolers. With regard to the use of the
measles vaccine in the United States the Child Immunisation Initiative aimed to
eradicate measles by 1982. Although this goal was not achieved Patrick Vivier has
argued that as a result of the programme there was a drastic reduction in measles
cases by 1982 which was classed as a major public health achievement. 54 There was
also a drive in New Zealand from the late 1970s to promote measles immunisation in
53 P. M. Vivier, ‘National Policies for Childhood Immunization in the United States: An Historical
Perspective’, PhD thesis, John Hopkins University, 1996.
54 ibid.
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