Hilda.
I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a daily podcast.
Presented by the New Zealand Herald.
New Zealand is on high alert after an Auckland ferry worker tested positive for measles. They were infectious while on board a number of Buller's three sixty sailings on May fifth, at a Kelston supermarket.
And downtown car park.
Two days later they were at Unicem New Lynn and Packensave Mount Albert. The marine crew member had recently traveled to Asia, but they weren't infectious on their flight home. So how concerning is this latest outbreak? And have we not learned anything from our days of COVID? Today on the front Page, University of Auckland Senior lecturer and research virologist Natalie Netzler joins us to take us through the
does and don'ts when it comes to measles. And just a quick note after we recorded this interview, Health Minister Simeon Brown released updated Health New Zealand vaccination data. Just over eighty percent of all kids are now fully immunized by the age of two, the highest rate since twenty twenty two.
So this may seem like a silly question.
But for those of us who don't know or just don't think about measles because we're I don't know vaccinated, what exactly is measles and why is it such a concern.
Yeah, measles is a really dangerous virus, and I think it's really underestimated. It's highly contagious, and it's spread through the air through coughs and sneezes and droplets. I think what's most concerning is that if you're unvaccinated, nine out of ten people can catch this. If they're exposed, you get symptoms like cough, red eyes, running nose, spots in the mouth, and sometimes a fever and a rash. But what's more concerning is that over one in ten of
those who are infected will need hospital care. The complications that range from something simple like an air infection, but right through to things like permanent hearing loss, brain inflammation, and even death. And we see that one in a thousand people in New Zealand that are infected will end up dying, and that's usually from pneumonia. I think what's even more concerning and people don't really know about, is
that measles can also make our immune system forget. So if we are unvaccinated and we get infected, then the measles actually turns off our immune system, so it forgets some of the things that we're previously been trained to be protected against, so we actually get more sick in the period after we have measles from other things that shouldn't normally make us sex. So it's a really dangerous virus.
Looking at what we know about the current outbreak, how concerning is it having these locations of interest.
It feels like we're back in twenty twenty.
Absolutely. I think for all of those that are vaccinated, we're really well protected by the measles vaccine MMR gives ninety nine percent protection after two doses, so we are all safe. But what's more concerning is that we have quite low vaccination rates over all for measles at the moment, and with this one imported case, because it's so contagious, everybody that's unvaccinated and has been close to this person or in these areas of interest, they can be exposed
and catch the virus. We've seen lots of cases overseas and here where we know measles can stay in the air for a couple of hours after a cough or a sneeze, so you might walk into a room and not even know that someone with measles was there before you, right.
And a fairy into supermarket. Those feel like quite concerning areas of contact.
Particularly. I think fairies are quite small, closed spaces, and things like the bathroom, really you're sort of trapped and they're breathing that same air. So those are certain areas that would be high risk for exposure.
So how good or bad are our vaccination rates at the moment.
I think what we're seeing at the moment is they're really just too low. So currently the rates that are reported that we're between seventy six and seventy seven percent of our two year olds are vaccinated overall for our immunizations. But what's really concerning is that this is much lower in some of our communities due to our really lack
of access and chronic systemic barriers. So what we're seeing for some of our Mighty communities is around thirty five percent our immunization coverage and forty four percent for some of our Pacific communities. This is really concerning because after the twenty nineteen outbreak of measles and some more, we saw over eighty people died, but even more tragically, they were mostly children under the age of four. So we really need to get our IMS rates up to protect our children.
So you mentioned there are some barriers. Why are those vaccination rates so low?
I think, really it is very complex. So one of the real battles we have is misinformation and disinformation all about vaccines, but particularly about MMR. I think what's really important is that we get more funding from the government to make sure that we can have community led in initiatives to make sure that we deliver vaccines in a way that is appropriate and is easy. So we see a lot of access barriers in are harder to reach communities,
but we also see some real champions. We see cases like the moukor van into Taytikuo, which is taking the vaccine out to people that can't necessarily get to a clinic, which is really encouraging. So I think if we could put more funding into these areas where we can overcome some of these barriers, then that will make a big difference. But things like access to clinics, lack of trust using a communication model that's one size fits all, these are the barriers we really need to overcome measles.
Vaccines limit the spread.
Well, you said, you said it was the most effective way to limit this limit the spread.
Yeah, you know with the present trum's possession of my possession is there is people who do not want to get vaccine and that's their choice, right, and we are to be able to treat them, and we know how to treat them and die there. It's wry to have the betest information al treat Thumb understood that, and we're focusing on that. But better to get to I get the vaccine right because it doeses it limits.
Well and it prevents it. Right, It's it's preventing the illness. You know, two doses per effective and you said that, you said that is this a vaccine that requires a booster.
So this vaccine needs two doses to give you lifelong protection. One dose is better than none. You get ninety five percent coverage, but it's best to get two doses and that gives you ninety nine percent coverage against affection for the rest of your life. Right.
And the only way like is there any way to kind of because you usually get it when you're young, right, So you just have to ask your parents if you got it, or is there a record or somewhere.
Yeah, that's a really good question, and I think you know, normally we would hope that would be part of your normal immunization schedule, so you get one at twelve and fifteen months. But what's really important is that people like me and my vintage you didn't necessarily have good records of whether or not you'd been vaccinated against measles because it was introduced and taken back and then introduced again in the seventies as they got better vaccines, and so
I had no record of my own measles vaccine. So it's perfectly safe to go back as an adult and get your catch up doses, which I did and you don't. It doesn't matter if you had it previously and you're not sure you can actually safely get those two doses again to make sure you're fully covered. So I would strongly suggest that you go along. It is free if you were born after the first of January nineteen sixty nine, and that's exactly what I did.
Yeah, I remember in twenty nineteen that summer in outbreak, I had to frantically call my dad and he had to rifle through boxes of old paperwork to try and get my vaccination records. It felt like for a while there that measles was pretty close to being eradicated at one point, Right, So what's led to this kind of turn?
Yeah, I think that's what's so tragic is that it's vaccine preventable and we could eradicated if we had sort of the right approach. But I think a lot of there are a lot of complex reasons why vaccination rates have driven I think all of us are a little bit overhearing about COVID, and I think the COVID vaccine being mandated has made a lot of people have some
sort of fatigue around vaccines. I think again that misinformation and disinformation really does a road trust, and that's something that we have to work really hard to communicate the right information to people so that they can make them
formed decisions. I also think one thing that I rarely discovered working with our communities around the COVID time to answer questions, is that a lot of the population, a lot of us are not actually anti vax We just want answers to our own specific questions about the vaccine safety and effectiveness. So what I found is a lot of mums and dads just wanted to know, my child has this, you know, this heart condition or they have
this illness, is the vaccine still safe for them? And I found that if we could answer those questions, which a GP or a health provider can help answer, then people were much more likely to go and get the vaccine. So it really is just making sure that people have all the right information from good sources so that they can go and make informed decisions about getting up to date on their immunizations, because that really is the single best way to protect ourselves against measles.
Yeah, and I know a lot of people want to move on from COVID, But do you think we've moved on a bit too much and have forgotten some of those key lessons, Like you basically never see anyone wearing masks out in public anymore when they're clearly sick. My producer was at the supermarket the other day, for example, and saw a man coughing all of the food without making any attempt to.
Cover his mouth.
There's just some basic things we're probably taught at school, and it doesn't seem that hyperbolic to say we've forgotten about them.
Yeah, look, I think again a lot of people are a bit overhearing about COVID, but that doesn't stop the fact that infectious diseases are still out there and we're still getting exposed and falling sick. As I mentioned, there are very few solutions to measles other than immunization, and it's the same for a lot of viruses. We don't
have specific treatments for a lot of viral diseases. Munization is the single best thing you can do, but there are other things you can do to boost your immune system as well, for example, getting enough sleep, getting some sun, eating while reducing stress. These things really keep your immune system strong. But as you mentioned, it's really important to stay home if you're sick to stop the spread of
infectious diseases. And if you absolutely must go out, if you live alone and you need food and you can't get it delivered, then it is really important to keep your distance and wear a mask. It's just these basic rules so that we can try and stop the spread of these infectious diseases, including measles.
But we are approaching winter, a lot of people I know are starting to get sick. It's going around the office, so probably everywhere, every other office as well. What do we need to keep in mind as those winter bugs start to spread about.
Yeah, I think it's just those basics. Back to basics, keeping your immune system strong, getting immunized where you can, Keeping in mind that there's lots of infectious diseases out there that we don't have specific treatments or vaccines too, so keeping yourself safe again. Those the best ways to keep your immune system as strong as possible is to get enough sleep and reduce your stress, keep moving, a
little bit of vitamin D sunlight, particular in these winter months. Actually, vitamin D deficiency is a big issue for our immune system, So getting out into some of that little winter sun, going for a bit of a walk, getting our bodies moving, eating well. All these simple basic rules are the best ways to keep our immune system strong. But again, immunization is the single best way to protect ourselves against measles.
Most at risk of those who have not been vaccinated, so for us that is under twelve months babies and then anybody who hasn't had two measles containing vaccination. So in New Zealand we use MMR the measles month through BELLA vaccination. You need to have two of those to be completely protected. So those born between nineteen sixty nine in two thousand and four may have only received one vaccination, So we're especially asking those people to check your vaccination records.
With winter approaching and hospitals already filling up, the last thing our health system needs is an outbreak. There's a high trust model to the public health response, now, isn't there. I mean, people are being asked to get in touch if they believe they aren't considered immune. But if you've chosen not to be vaccinated, are you really going to engage with the health authorities? Or am iybe just being a bit too pessimistic?
Care Again, I sort of come back to the work that we did with communities in COVID when we were answering questions about the virus. So I think one thing that really comes across here is that these communities, often, these communities that have low vaccination rates, it's not because they necessarily just don't want the vaccine. What we hear from them is that there is certainly a lack of trust, But often actually what we hear is that it's a
lack of access to the right information. I think if we have this one size fits all approach for communications about our medicines and our vaccines that just isn't going to work. And again I come back to the fact that the work we did during COVID showed me that a lot of people are not anti vacs. They just really want their specific questions answered, and it's about knowing
who to go to for those that information. And I think one thing that we could really do better as a nation is having government funding that really backs community leaders that are trusted within that community, that can help share the right information and the right way for these communities so that we get trusts in uplift. And we saw this actually during COVID. The more work we did in this, the more investment we made, the higher those
immunization rates got. And we actually saw for a while they're pecific communities were leading the rates in terms of New Zealand vaccinations against COVID. So it really is about getting that communication out and getting it right and making sure that people really do have the right information in the right format to make informed decisions.
It's interesting you bring that up, actually, because I remember that and it really points to the fact that targeted messaging for different communities really works. Hey, so if you had a magic wand ruguess of magic checkbook, would that be the first thing you do?
Yeah? Look, if I if I was a billionaire and I could self fund these things, I think, really it is about protecting children, and it really is about making sure that parents understand that the vaccines we have in New Zealand, they've gone through so many hoops and so many tests to make sure that they are absolutely safe for use. But it's also about knowing what, where and
where they can't be used. And so I think what I would do is fund community leaders in every single community that are already trusted, that have people's ear, and make sure that they have the right information and then make sure that they can pass that on and share that with communities and maybe have this two way dialogue where that person is sort of a champion in both directions, can get the latest sort of information from from health
providers and then pass that into communities, and then they can pass back the questions and really have that dialogue so that it's not just one message going out saying you should do this. Trust us when we've done terrible things in the past, and you know you should just sort of forget all that and take this medicine to
stop you from getting sick. It would be more of a dialogue in terms of making sure that people understand exactly what is in the vaccine, that it's been tested rigorously to make sure it's very safe, that it is the best way to keep our tomadiki out of hospital.
Thanks for joining us, Natalie, Thank you very much for having me.
That's it for this episode of the Front Page. You can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage at enzadherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page is produced by Ethan Seals and Richard Martin, who is also our sound engineer.
I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to the.
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