‘Climbing up the ladder’: Waikato vax rates on the rise

Sunday, 28 June 2026

Baby Tiaruhia Manuia Ururoa Paul gets immunised in Hamilton at Fairfield Community House Te Whare o te Ata.

Waikato has posted one of the country’s biggest turnarounds in childhood immunisation, after rates plummeted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

More than four in five parents are now getting their bub vaccinated against conditions such as measles and whooping cough, a record for the region in recent years.

It’s a change Te Kōhao Health managing director Lady Tureiti Moxon puts down to ongoing encouragement, outreach, and the occasional sweetener.

Te Kōhao Health Nurse Meri Ormsby gives an injection to baby Tiaruhia Manuia Ururoa Paul, held by dad Eli Kodi Paul, at Fairfield Community House Te Whare o te Ata.

“At one stage Waikato was one of the worst, and now we're climbing up the ladder. We've got a little bit more to go, but we're working and we're very, very focused.”

The 80.9% figure is still below the national average of 83.5% , and lags behind the Government’s target of 95% of children having all their scheduled vaccinations by the time they are two years old, which it aims to achieve by 2030.

However, Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora (HNZ) data released this week shows the region’s vaccination rate by the age of two has climbed more than 10 percentage points in the past year, compared to an average national increase of 4.2 percentage points.

Dad Eli Kodi Paul and mum Zhenyanar Turina Moosman take baby Tiaruhia Manuia Ururoa Paul for vaccinations in Hamilton this week

Moxon said childhood immunisation rates came to a “big halt” during Covid-19. Some people thought there was a Government conspiracy to hurt families, and some parents became anxious about vaccinations generally.

However, this view had shifted, and more people trusted the health sector. It felt great to surpass the 80% mark, she said.

“You just keep offering it and sooner or later, nine times out of 10 — it doesn't happen every time — but they come around.”

“In the [Primary Health Organisation] we have all our different providers, and so we see what everybody is doing, so it's also a good incentive, I think, to get those numbers up and to work together in unison to make that happen.”

Te Kōhao Health had also held promotions, encouraging families with petrol or food vouchers worth between $20 and $50. At a recent promotion day, the clinic had given out about 15 vouchers.

“People are suffering right now with petrol costs and they still haven't come down… it's very important, I think, that we are supporting our families in the best way we can, and at the same time reaching our targets.”

Te Tiratū Iwi Māori Partnership Board member Dr Mataroria Lyndon said the climbing numbers were very positive and had taken a lot of work to achieve.

However, there was more work to do, not only to meet the target but also to address the gap between rates for Māori children — which sat at 73.3% in Waikato — and non-Māori children.

“One key issue is to continue to take services out to Māori to meet whānau communities where they are.”

It was also important to have the support of Māori providers who reflected the communities they served, and to have good health promotion messaging.

Both the Waikato region and the country in general used to have higher rates before the Covid-19 pandemic, he said, pointing to Waikato DHB data from 2014. That year, 89% of Māori and 90% of non-Māori were fully immunised by 24 months.

However, the goal of 95% vaccination rates by 2030 could be achieved.

“We can, and we need to. So we're heading in the right direction, but we can't take our foot off now.”

The vaccine schedule included vaccines against diseases such as pneumonia, measles, mumps, and rubella, as well as whooping cough.

“We've seen cases of whooping cough over recent years because our immunisation rates have been lower, and you know how horrific it can be, especially for babies.”

The benefit of vaccinations was also not limited to the under-twos, he said, and vaccines such as those for the flu and Covid-19 were also important.

The 95% early childhood vaccination goal is one of the Government’s five health targets, and data on HNZ's website sheds light on progress over the last seven quarters.

The most recent figures show a 4.2 percentage point increase across the country compared to the same time last year, whereas Waikato has jumped more than 10 percentage points over the same period.

This moved it from the fourth lowest rate in a list of 20 regions nationwide, to a middling result of eight places from the bottom of the list. At the top of the chart was Hutt Valley, at 92.5%, while the lowest place was Northland, at 65.9%