IMMUNISATION - ANOTHER DECISION FOR NEW PARENTS!

 

Just when you think that coping with a changing body, sharing life with a new wee person, perhaps becoming an 

unpaid domestic servant rather than a working (paid!) professional and making decisions about the birth plan is 

all too much - along comes the big 'I' question - Immunisation.

 

It never used to be so much of a question though - ask your mother, or grandmother. Older generations remember 

the "bad old days" when a sore throat may have meant the dreaded diphtheria, a fever may have been the start of 

polio, a week in a dark room followed by months of being ‘run down’ was standard fare for measles, and an 

expectant mum who had never had rubella (german measles) was so concerned with getting through the first 3 months 

of pregnancy without rubella that she was scared to go out and mix with friends with young children. Then along 

came vaccines to prevent these and other diseases, and the horrors of the consequences of these diseases are 

soon forgotten as we start to think about whether or not to put our precious new baby through a series of injections.

 

Some basic facts:

 

* vaccines contain a weakened or killed form of the disease-causing organism and when injected into the body 

this is enough for the immune system to see it as an 'invader' and produce antibodies which keep a memory of 

the disease. Hence in future when the real organism attacks the body the immune system remembers, and can

fight it off more vigorously..

 

* immunisation is not just about protecting the individual - it works most effectively when a high percentage 

of the community have been fully immunised. This is known as "population protection". When enough people 

in a community are immunised the organism cannot spread from person to person so easily. For some organisms 

if enough people are immunised they do not survive and can be eradicated from the community such as 

polio and measles.

 

If too many children in a community are not immunised we will return to the "bad old days" with lots of disease

around. * all parents need to make a decision about immunisation for their child because when they attend 

school (or an Early Childhood Centre over the age of 15mths) there is a legal requirement to have an 

Immunisation Certificate) signed by your doctor or nurse. This information is kept private, but is used by 

the local Medical Officer of Health to identify at-risk children if there is an outbreak or epidemic of a 

vaccine-preventable disease in the community. This does not mean the child has to be immunised, it means 

parents’ have to make a decision on the issue, and obtain a certificate. 

 

In New Zealand, the childhood Immunisation Schedule is as follows:

 

NZ Childhood Immunisation Schedule
from February 2002

Additional vaccines for special groups:

·1 Premature babies: check with your doctor or nurse

·2 Birth:

1. BCG vaccine is offered for "at risk" babies 

    - NB These are babies living in a household where someone has had Tb, 

       or have household members who have come from a country where there

       is a high incidence of Tb, or are likely to move to a country where Tb is a 

       high risk, or are from a Pacific family If in doubt check with your doctor or

       nurse.

 

2.   Hepatitis B vaccine plus Hepatitis B immune globulin for infants who have 

      mothers who carry the Hepatitis B virus.

          3.   Aged 6 months plus: annual influenza vaccination is recommended for adults 

                and children with certain chronic medical conditions, ask your doctor or nurse.

 

          4.   11 year olds: those who have not yet had 4 polio immunisations should be offered

                a catch-up IPV(IPOL) injection.

5.   Women: of child bearing age who are susceptible to rubella should be offered MMR vaccine

Vaccine Key:-
Inactivated Polio Vaccine(IPV), Diphtheria, Tetanus, acellular Pertussis(DTaP), 

Haemophilus influenzae type b(Hib), Hepatitis B(HepB), Measles, Mumps, Rubella(MMR), 

Tetanus-diphtheria - adult(Td).

 

Some questions you may want to consider about immunisation are:

• How serious are the vaccine-preventable diseases?

• Won't breastfeeding protect against these diseases?

• Are there any alternatives to injections?

• How effective are the vaccines?

• What are the risks and side effects of the vaccines?

• Why do they have to start at 6 weeks?

For answers to these and many other questions about immunisation you can

 ask your Lead Maternity Carer for a copy of the pamphlet "Childhood Immunisation"

or contact Immunisation Advisory Centre (IMAC)

0800 IMMUNE (0800 466 863)

www.imac.auckland.ac.nz