WEBVTT

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Immunisation is a simple and effective way to help protect children (and adults) against serious diseases.

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By immunising your child, you give them the best start to a healthy future,

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and you protect your community by reducing the spread of disease.

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Kia ora whānau, I’m Dr Kiri Bird.

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Every day your body comes across many different types of germs.

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Some of these can make you very sick.

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Your body has a natural defence system, called the immune system,

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which helps fight off germs that can cause serious disease.

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One of the ways your body fights off germs 
is by making special antibodies that know what a particular germ looks like,

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and can find and destroy it.

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The first time your body meets a new germ, it can take some time for your body to make these antibodies.

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Until those germs are destroyed, you might get sick.

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But later on, if you come across the same germ again,

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your body can remember it and fight it off before you get sick.

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This is why once you’ve had a disease, you usually don’t catch it again

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because your body fights off the germ before you can get sick.

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Immunisation protects against diseases in the same way.

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It gives your immune system a practice run with a broken-up or weakened germ

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so it won’t give you the disease.

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Your body learns how to recognise those germs

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and is ready to fight them off before they can make you sick.

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You may get a fever or a headache after you are given a vaccine.

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This is a common response to the vaccine and should pass quickly.

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If you’re worried at any time, talk with your doctor or nurse.

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Once you’ve been immunised, If you come across the same germ again,

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your body will remember it and fight off the germ before you get sick.

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This is how immunisation protects against disease.

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There’s another way that immunisation can help protect our whānau,

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and that’s by making sure that we don’t even come into contact with preventable diseases in the first place.

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When only a few people are immunised, diseases can spread very quickly.

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When more people are immunised, diseases can’t spread as quickly – but are still able to spread.

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But when most people are immunised, disease can’t spread through our community and so most people stay well.

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There are always a few people in every community who are either too young to be immunised

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or have a weakened immune system, such as cancer patients.

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These people can get very sick when they catch a disease, so it’s really important that everyone around them is immunised.

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So, if enough people are immunised, the community as a whole can be protected.

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This is called community immunity.

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In New Zealand, measles outbreaks among teenagers and young adults are still common because many of them were not immunised as young children.

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Diseases like whooping cough or measles can spread quickly.

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If most of the people in a community are not immunised, these diseases can spread rapidly and lead to an outbreak.

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Community immunity can help to prevent this risk.

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When we choose to immunise, we not only protect ourselves, we protect our whānau, and our whole community.

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The National Immunisation Schedule sets out the best time to get immunised so that your child can be protected when they need it most.

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For example, women need more protection against influenza while they are pregnant.

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Babies need to be protected as young as possible against whooping cough and other serious diseases.

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In New Zealand, baby’s first immunisations are due at 6 weeks, 3 months and 5 months.

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Some vaccines are recommended at a slightly older age.

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At age 15 months, young children get immunised against measles and chickenpox, as well as boosters for some of their earlier vaccines.

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Boosters are important as they remind your immune system’s memory to keep protecting against harmful germs.

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It’s important to immunise on time. Delaying immunisation can put your child at greater risk of catching a serious disease.

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All vaccines used in New Zealand have been thoroughly tested to make sure they are safe

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and that they work well before they are approved, a process that can take many years.

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Safety monitoring continues even after the vaccines are approved

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and being used by millions of people around the world.

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That’s how we know the benefits of immunisation far outweigh any potential risk,

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and why immunisation is recommended by the Ministry of Health and health professionals.

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Protect your whānau, immunise on time.