The shameful fall in immunisation rates

National made increasing immunisation rates a national health target and got the rate up to very close to 95%. Labour abolished the targets and look at what has happened since for two year olds:

• All 2 year olds: From 92.4% to 82.9%
• Maori from 90.4% to 67.1%
• Pacific from 95.2% to 81.3%
• Highly deprived areas (Decile 9/10) from 90.6% to 73.2%

This is a major failure which will see potentially horrible health outcomes for those kids not fully vaccinated.

What do you think would make more of a difference to Maori health outcomes – having a Maori Health Authority or having 90% of kids vaccinated instead of 67%?