May 08, 2024
Social media stifling immunity
A public health expert says social media misinformation may be contributing to low immunisation rates which are raising the threat of a measles outbreak.
Te Tairawhiti Medical Officer of Health, Dr Osman Mansoor, says immunisation rates for tamariki Māori are below 69 percent in six regions – Te Tairāwhiti, Counties Manukau, Hawke’s Bay, Rotorua Lakes regions, Waikato and West Coast.
He says children under five are most at risk, especially Maori and Pasifika – and social media misinformation is sowing doubts in peoples’ minds.
“Now when parents feel like that they do get worried, and they don’t know who to believe, and that’s a real problem. and I think the particular issue for Maori, of course, is the fact that they have perhaps some more reasons – you know looking historically – not to trust the government and not to trust the system,” Dr Mansoor says.
Dr Mansoor was part of a team which predicted the 1997 epidemic, triggering measures which helped limit the spread to about 2000 cases – compared with the 1991 outbreak when there were tens of thousands of cases.