April 12, 2022
Low resistance bad sign at flu season start
A vaccination expert is warning there could be a dangerous rebound of infectious diseases this winter.
University of Auckland Professor Helen Petousis-Harris says two winters of lockdowns and low immunisation rates among children means resistance to diseases like influenza is down.
“Diseases such as whooping cough, pneumococcal disease, some of these are really nasty and affect children most when they are youngest,” she says.
Professor Petousis-Harris says the vaccination rates among Māori and Pasifika children peaked about five years ago, and since then there has been a dramatic decline.