September 03, 2015
Immunisation message missing mums
A researcher on the long-running Growing Up in New Zealand study says more needs to be done to get prospective parents comfortable with the idea of immunising their children.
Associate Professor Cameron Grant, who's also a consultant paediatrician at Starship Children's Hospital, says almost half of women say they did not receive information on immunisation when they were pregnant.
He says that's the best time to get mums and dads, both because of the importance of vaccinating babies early, and because it's likely to a less stressful time.
"The discouraging information received during pregnancy was associated with the infants being more likely to be delayed for their immunisation, whereas there was no relationship between having received encouraging information and for example the children being more likely to be immunised on time. I think we may have an issue where the encouraging message isn't being sold as well as it should be," Dr Grant says.
More effort needs to go into messaging, including a focus on Maori mums and dads.
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