Immunisation

Childhood Immunisation

All childhood immunisations are FREE.

Protect your child now, for their future

The New Zealand National Immunisation Schedule is a series of immunisations (including boosters) given at specific times between the ages of six weeks and twelve years. To get the best possible protection, have the immunisations on time, every time.

Our nursing team can administer all of the childhood immunisations in the practice.  



11 Year Old Immunisation

Further immunisations are given at 11 years old to further maintain and strengthen the immunity that children have received from their earlier childhood immunisations.

The vaccines are given at 11 years old:

• Boostrix - protects against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough). Boostrix is administered as part of the National Immunisation Schedule at 11 years of age. The vaccine is delivered in the school-based vaccination programme to children in Year 7 in most parts of the country.



• Gardasil 9 - Commonly known as HPV, protects against nine types of human papillomavirus. The vaccine is designed to protect men and women from HPV infection that can cause genital warts, precancerous cell changes and cancer in the throat, cervical cancer and anal, vaginal, vulval or penile cancers. The vaccine is delivered in the school-based vaccination programme to children in Year 7 in most parts of the country.
  

Whooping Cough

Newborn babies are particularly vulnerable to whooping cough, hence we encourage "cocooning". This involves vaccinating the close contacts of newborns, such as parents, siblings, and grandparents which prevents them from catching the disease before they are fully vaccinated.

Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is a highly infectious disease with symptoms that can last for weeks to months.

It is caused by the Bordetella pertussis bacterium. Outbreaks of the disease occur every 3–5 years because whooping cough protection decreases with time after having either the disease or immunisation.

Tetanus

Tetanus, often called lockjaw, is caused by the release of tetanus toxin from a spore-forming bacterium found worldwide in the environment, especially in soil. Tetanus toxin is one of the most potent poisons known.

Since tetanus bacteria are everywhere in the environment and the disease is not transmitted from person to person, community (herd) immunity does not protect individuals.

Vaccination with three or more doses of tetanus-containing vaccine is required for full protection, followed by booster vaccinations throughout life. Booster doses are funded at ages 11, 45, and 65.

Boosters may be recommended following injury where the wound is at high risk of being infected with tetanus or if it has been more than 5 years since the last booster.

Shingles Vaccine

Shingles is a painful skin rash, caused by the varicella zoster virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox.

After you recover from chickenpox, the virus stays in your body. It moves to the roots of your nerve cells (near the spinal cord) and becomes inactive (dormant). Later, if the virus becomes active again, shingles is the name given to the symptoms it causes. 

You can only get shingles if you’ve had chickenpox in the past (usually as a child). While anyone who has recovered from chickenpox may develop shingles, the risk of shingles increases as you get older.

It is not known what exactly causes the virus to become active again, but the risk of getting shingles is greater in people with a weakened immune system.

You can’t catch shingles from someone else. However, if you’ve never had chickenpox, or never received the chickenpox vaccine, you can catch chickenpox from close contact with someone who has shingles, because the shingles blisters contain the chickenpox virus.

The Shingles vaccine is free once you turn 65 years old. As long as you receive your first dose when you are 65, your second dose will still be free. 

Costs apply for non-eligibile patients. Contact the team for more information.

COVID-19

COVID-19 is a respiratory infection caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. The virus spreads from person to person via respiratory droplets and small particles produced when an infected individual speaks or coughs. SARS-CoV-2 was first identified in China in 2019 and had not been isolated previously in humans or animals.

Coronaviruses are very common and typically cause mild illness like common colds, but can be severe, like Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

COVID-19 vaccines remain free and available to eligible people aged 6 months and over. It must have been at least six months since your last vaccine or having COVID-19.

Adults need Immunisation too.

Immunisation is not just recommended for children. 

Whooping Cough is funded for pregnant women in their third trimester and recommended (but not funded) for close family members ie. partner, grandparents and close family members.

Adult Vaccinations such as Tetanus boosters are recommended at 45 and 65 years of age or early in the case of dirty wounds.

The Shingles Vaccine is recommended for men and women aged 65 to 80 years old and is funded for eligible patients.