Source: Radio New Zealand
Between late 2024 to the end of last month, immunisations for two-year-olds had gone up by about 10 percentage points. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Māori immunisation rates for two-year-old children are rising, according to new Health New Zealand (HNZ) figures.
Between late 2024 to the end of last month, immunisations for the age group had gone up by about 10 percentage points.
Rates for full immunisation at two years old went from 60 percent to 71.5 percent.
However, a gap remained between Māori and non-Māori immunisation rates.
“While the increase is encouraging, we acknowledge there is more work to be done,” HNZ said.
For the same period, the gap between Māori and non-Māori immunisation rates narrowed by 2.3 percentage points, from 14.3 percent to 12 percent.
Health New Zealand said the progress reflected the continued efforts of whānau, communities, and health providers working together to protect tamariki and support healthy futures.
The agency said it had been focused on improving immunisation uptake by bettering access to care, offering home visits to tamariki who are overdue on an immunisation.
“We remain committed to continuing this momentum, working alongside iwi, Hauora Māori partners, and communities to further improve immunisation rates.”
The government’s health targets set out in 2024 included improved immunisation.
Its goal was to see 95 percent of children fully immunised at 24 months of age, the same target as Australia, the UK and Canada.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand